Recovery
by ADDIrocks
Summary: This story takes place after season 2 final. It's about how Addison deals with the aftemath. ADDEK
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Addison or any of the characters from GA**

**Recovery**

**Part I**

Addison was still numb; she had made a fool out of herself. How could she give him yet another chance? "God how could I have been so stupid?" she sat on the edge of the bed; she had to end this now.

She rose from the bed and walked to the closet; she slowly pulled opened the door and took out the large suitcase. Addie closed her eyes and tried to remain strong, "I can do this." She quietly and efficiently packed her things. She found the large envelope, the one she had previously given to Derek. Slowly she slid the papers out, this was it, this is something she should have done six months ago. She grabbed a pen off the dress and quickly signed and dated all the pages. There it's done she thought; she had tears streaming down her face. This was the hardest thing she ever had to do. Addie reached for her wedding bands and felt the cool metal; she slowly slipped the rings off her finger and dropped them in the envelope.

She looked around the trailer one last time. As far as she could see she gathered all her belongings. She grabbed her bag and quickly exited the trailer; she pulled out her key to lock the door, it clicked with a sudden finality. It's over, it's finally over, she thought to herself. She leaned her head against the trailer door; then dropped the key in the large envelope.

She started to headed for her car, only to collapse on the steps dropping her head in her hands, she thought, I can do this, I am strong. No I'm not, she shook her head. She pulled out her cell phone, punched in the familiar number and hit send. As it continued to ring, she changed her mind, she can't do this, she immediately hit end. She rose and determinedly headed to her car.

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Mark stood in front of his locker; he didn't usually perform surgeries on Sunday's but this one was different it was a four hour reconstructive surgery on a three year old that had been attacked by a dog. He was proud of the fact that he could take a tragedy and make it right. He smiled to himself; the little boy was going to have very minor scaring and will lead a normal life. He reached for his phone, checked for missed messages; he was expecting a call from his sister. It read one missed call, he recognized the number, no message.

What did it mean, why call and no leave a message? He paced back and forth, "God Addie what is going on? "

He stopped his pacing; he knew what he had to do.

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After leaving the trailer Addison moved into the hotel she had previously stayed in, she had plenty of time to think over the last twenty four hours. That Monday morning she woke determined to move on with her life. So, here she was at the hospital ready to move on. She gently knocked on Derek's office door, thank god, no answer. She quietly opened the door and slipped in the room, slowly walked to the desk and places the envelope down. This is it she thought, it's over. She left the room as quietly as she had entered it, gently closing the door and leaned against it. She can do this. She straightened and held her head high and headed down the hall.

Mark stood at the end of the hall, he watched Addie tentatively enter Derek's office. He leaned against the wall waiting to see what would happen next. With in few minutes she emerged, she seemed defeated. A sad smile crossed his face when he saw the change in her demeanor; she was trying to hard to be the strong Addison. It broke his heart.

Addison froze; she stared down the hall at Mark leaning against the wall, their eyes locked. What was he doing here? She swallowed hard, she could not move, all she could do was stare at the man quickly approaching her. He reached out and wrapped her in his arms, he held her tight in his arms and gently stroked the back of her head. That's when she lost it, she sobbed into his chest and they sunk to the ground. He pulled her onto his lap and rocked her while she cried. He whispered in her ear, "I know baby, I know," he continued to kiss the top of her head and stroke her hair comforting her, letting her know he was here for her.

"I'm such and idiot," she finally managed to squeak out.

"No, you aren't," he whispered. "You just loved the wrong guy," he pulled away so she could see the little smile on his face.

She tilted her head gave him a half laugh half cry, "Yeah I did."

He pulled a tissue out of his pocket and handed it to her, "Come on, dry your eyes and let's get out of here."

She dried her face and he stood, held her hand and pulled her up into a hug again. They walked arm and arm down the hall.

Derek stood at the end of the hall taking in the scene before him; he showed no emotion on his face. Addie and Mark didn't notice him until he was standing before them. "Derek," Addie whispered. Derek nodded at the pair and continued on his way.

Mark reached out and stroked Addie cheek, "Are you ok?"

She put her head back and closed her eyes, "What do you think?"

Mark could see the misery on her face. He was furious with Derek. Furious that he refused to let her go when he no longer wanted her. That he held on to punish her. It broke his heart because he knew he shared the blame for the pain she was in. Mark held Addie firmly by the shoulders and said, "Can you make it back to your office on your own?" she nodded. "Good, I have something to do," he bent down and gently kissed her on the forehead, gave her arm a squeeze then turned and headed down the hall after Derek.

Derek sat at his desk looking at the envelope lying on the desk before him. He looked up from his desk as the door to his office was thrown open. He shot up to a standing position behind his desk, took a step back and Mark charged at him. Mark threw a punch that connected with Derek's jaw; Derek stumbled back and fell over his chair landing on the floor behind his desk. Mark was ready to lunge at him again, but was stopped.

"Mark!" Addie shouted. "Please stop!" she cried.

Mark's head snapped in the direction of Addie's voice. She was pleading with him and shaking her head, "He's not worth it. Please stop."

Mark stopped and studied Addison standing across the room. She was shaking. The last thing on earth he wanted was to hurt her more then she already was. He turned to Derek and pointed down at him, "Stay away from her."

Derek lay back on an elbow looking up at Mark rubbing his jaw where he had connected, he didn't say a word.

Mark looked down on him with disgust then headed back to Addie, gathered her in his arms and asked, "Are you ok?" She nodded and they exited the room.

Derek rose to his feet and eased himself into his chair at his desk; he looked at the envelope lying on the desk before him again. He didn't have to open it to know what was inside. He emptied envelope and spread the contents before him. Addison's wedding bands, the key to the trailer and the divorce papers; he knew they were the same ones she gave him six months ago. The only difference this time was the very recognizable signature at the bottom of the page _Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery-Shepherd_ that's it, it was over. She had signed the papers. He blew out a long breath and reached for the pen and began to sign the pages putting his signature next to hers. Side by side on the page _Dr. Derek Shepherd Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery-Shepherd_, it was really over.

Mark and Addie remained outside Derek's office, he was cradling her in his arms he rubbed her back as he whispering to her, "You are going to get through this. I am going to help you get through this and I'm not going anywhere this time no matter what you say." Tears trickled down her face as she took in what he was telling her. She nodded into his shirt and tried to regain her strength from his reassuring arms.

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Mark led Addie to the bathroom in her hotel room. He had run a nice warm bath for her while she changed out of her clothes into a robe. "Come on get in. It's just what the doctor ordered, a nice soak. You sit back and try to relax and let me take care of you," he leaned over stroked her cheek and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "Just give me a holler if you need anything and when you are done in here I'll have something extra special for you," he grinned at her and wickedly. Addie laughed at him and flicked some bubbles at him.

Addie sunk deeper into the tub. She still couldn't believe that Mark was here, that he had come running across the country because he received a missed call from her. She hadn't even left a messaged for Christ's sake. How the hell did he know that she needed him?

Her mind drifted back to when Derek had seen her in Mark's arms. She could feel the tear threatening her again. No she told herself, she wasn't going to let him hurt her anymore. She sighed and sunk deeper into the tub until she was completely submerged and she let out a scream. She sat upright and took a deep breath. Damn that bastard, she didn't want to care. She wanted to be indifferent too. She slipped back down in the tub and let the tears flow again.

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Derek took the envelope Addison had left on his desk to her office and left it on her desk. He will let her attorney handle this. He then headed to the fifth floor; he knew Meredith would probably be with Cristina and Burke. He smiled as he went, she should have no objections to starting a relationship with him now. He was a free man; his smile grew as he moved along.

He was right; Meredith was in Burke's room with Cristina. "Hey there," he said as he entered. "How's he doing?"

"He just fell back to sleep," Cristina said.

"Um, Meredith can I talk to you for a minute?" he said with a smile.

"I'm visiting with Cristina," she said.

"Please it won't take long," he smiled again.

Meredith sighed, "Fine, for a minute," to Cristina, "I won't be long."

She got up and left the room with him, after they walked a bit she stopped and turned to him, "Okay, what do you want?"

"I wanted you to know that Addison and I are getting a divorce. We both signed the papers," he said hopefully.

"Well goody for you. You finally got some balls and did the right thing and left the wife you can't stand. How big of you," she said sarcastically.

"Meredith," he pleaded. "Don't be like that."

"Be like what? Bitter, because you made me your dirty little mistress? Both Addison and Finn deserved better. What on earth would I have to be bitter about? Why couldn't you have been a man and ended it with your wife before making me your dirty little mistress? So, now you are free and I'm supposed to say _pick me, pick me now, take me back now, oh please Derek take me back_. Well I have news for you; I can't forgive you for making me your dirty little mistress." With that she turned and stomped off back to Burke's room. She hesitated before entering, "By the way Derek who signed the papers first?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

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An hour later Addie stepped out of the whirlpool, she had a really good cry. Mark was right, she smiled to herself it was exactly what she needed. She quickly changed into the pajamas Mark left out for her.

Addie emerged from the bathroom feeling one hundred percent better than when she went in. She smelled the aroma of pizza in the air, he remembered her favorite comfort food was a mushroom, black olive, green pepper pizza.

Mark smiled at her as she existed the bathroom, "Are you all comfy?" she nodded and smiled, she was wearing an oversized sweater shirt, plaid flannel pajama bottoms, and a pair of thick socks.

She tilted her head and smiled at Mark, then held out her arms. She wrapped her arms his waist and snuggled into his chest. "Thank you," she whispered.

Mark kissed the top of her head, took her hand and led her to the couch, "Ready for a _Star Wars _marathon?"

"_Star Wars_, I love _Star Wars_. We are just talking the original trilogy, right?"

"Yep, just the original three," he took her hand and guided her to the couch. Once settled he handed her a slice of pizza and a glass of Shiraz.

Halfway through the first movie he looked down at her snuggled up in the crook of his arm, she was sound a sleep. He kissed her on top of her head and gently scooped her up in his arms, then carried her to the bed. He thought to himself as he watched her sleep_, I'm going to get you through this baby and if I have my way, he will never hurt you again_.

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"Mark, I want to thank you," Addie smiled at him weakly. "Again," closing her eyes as she went on, "For being there, for taking care of me last night." She looked up at him and went on, "I don't know what I would have done without you." She tilted her head, her eyes crinkled and a small smile played on her lips, "So, thank you."

"Hey," he reached over and gathered her hands in his. "No thanks needed that's what friends are for," his eyes shone. He gave her hands a gentle squeeze.

"Addison," he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. This was something that had to be said because he wanted things to turn out differently this time. "No matter what happened in the past we are and will always be friends." He glanced down then looked back up and sobered, "Addie, before in New York, I was wrong. I should have never taken advantage of you." She tried to protest and he raised his hand. "I did, you know it and I know it. Your marriage was in a shambles and instead of being your friend and helping you, I took advantage. I was selfish, I had wanted you for a long time, long before the problems with Derek started," he gave her a crooked smile and reached over and brushed a stray hair away. "And instead of helping you deal with his absence like a friend, I took what I wanted. You were weak and vulnerable, and I took advantage," sadness came into his eyes.

"Mark," she reached over and touched his cheek. "I'm a big girl; I take responsibility for my own actions. Yes, I know we were wrong," she placed her hands in her lap and looking down a pained look crossing her face. "I don't know what I would have done differently because I wasn't strong enough to let him go then." She looked back up at him tentatively, "God knows I should have ended it back then, but I just wasn't strong enough. I still loved him." She leaned her head back and put hand to her forehead. He could hear her voice start to waiver, "Hell, I still love him." She strengthened and said with resolve looking him straight in the eye, "I made one step in the right direction. I let him go." She gave him a half smile, "Now I just need to learn to stop loving him because it is going kill me if I don't." As she looked at him, he could see the fear in her eyes. "I'm scared to death right now because I know one look of encouragement from him and I will melt. I won't be able to stay away from him."

"And I will be here to help you and support you," his smile grew. "I love you Addison but I know you are not ready to start a new relationship and I will wait. I will wait for you to be truly over him and ready to move on." He looked into her eyes, "Move on with me hopefully, nothing would make me happier," he sobered. "But I will not pressure you and if down the road, if he gets his head out of his ass and realized what an amazing woman you are and wants you back," he looked grim, "And you go back. I'll accept that too. I won't be happy about it but I'll accept it." He continued relaxing some, "Or when you are finally over him," he maintained the gaze, "And if you still don't want more then friendship from me, that's okay too. Because it is more important to have you as my friend," he gave her hand a squeeze, "Then have you as my lover." He leaned over and gave her a soft kissed on her cheek. "I just want you to be happy, whatever the choice you make."

Addie rose from her chair and walked over to him; she pulled his head to her and kissed the top, "thank you." She smiled down at him, "It's going to be a lot easier knowing that no matter what happens you will be here for me." She crouched down next to him and looked into his eyes, "You truly are my best friend. You don't know how happy it makes me to know I have that back."

He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. She pulled back smiling and looked into his eyes, "Ok enough drama for one day. I have to get ready for work."

"Are you sure you are up to going into the hospital?" he asked with concern.

"I have to be. It's part of the healing process. I have to be okay with seeing him and if he is with her, I have to learn to be ok with seeing them together," she simply stated, with that she left the room to get ready for work.

Thirty minutes later she exited the bathroom, her hair was pulled back, she was wearing a green tailored jacket, black t-shirt, black slacks, and a black pair of three inch jimmy choos and she looked like the cool, calm, confident Addison he knew so well. She had a look of determination on her face; she was ready to take on the world today.

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Meredith stood in the elevator next to Derek; he looked like he didn't sleep at all the night before. She could tell he wanted to talk but she stopped him before he had a chance to say anything. "We made a mistake, a terrible mistake and after that mistake I chose Finn, not you but Finn." She narrowed her eyes, "You have to accept that I am now with Finn and not with you." She took a breath, "I don't care that you are available now. I don't care because you made me your dirty little mistress," she fumed. "And that was something I never wanted to be," she threw her hands up into the air in frustration. "Before I could look Addison in the eye, because before when I was sleeping with her husband, I didn't know, I didn't know you were married. So I was innocent in this entire mess," she paused trying to get her anger under control. "You changed that by not leaving me alone; you knew I was still in love with you. You knew it and you wouldn't leave me alone so I could heal, and move on," her voice was starting to tremble. "I did move on. I have Finn, I moved on and have Finn," she continued firmly. "You didn't care," she cried, "You continued to look at me and knew I couldn't resist you, because I still loved you and wanted you. But," she stabbed at his chest, "You ruined everything; you ruined it because you wouldn't leave me alone. You refused to leave your wife and you continued to pursue me," her voice started to rise. "I know you had no intention of leaving her, even after. I'm sure of it," she shook her head. "I know you wanted me to pick you over Finn, but I also know you still would have chosen her over me." She continued her rant, "Now you are free. You are free, but it wasn't your choice it was hers," she cried. "Addison discovered proof that we slept together and she left _you_! She signed the papers first not _you_!" Meredith looked at him with disgust. "You never chose me over Addison. I am your consolation prize and now I'm just the dirty little mistress," she took a deep breath, she was still shaking.

Derek tried to speak, but she stopped his retort with a quick wave of her hand she wouldn't allow it. "If it doesn't have to do with something medical, do not ever speak to me," she snapped.

With that the doors to the elevator opened, Addison was standing outside. They all looked uncomfortable, both Meredith and Derek exited going their separate ways and Addison entered.

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Addison entered her office and saw the large envelope on her desk. Well this is it she thought; she emptied the contents on her desk. It contained the signed divorce papers, her wedding bands and a note from Derek. She picked up the note and started to read.

A.

I figured you can have your attorney file the papers. Take your rings,

they are yours, so do whatever you think is appropriate.

D.

Addison picked up the rings and threw them on the ground then started to stomp on them, in frustration. Just then Dr. Bailey poked her head in the door. She looked puzzled at Addison stomping on the ground, "What did you find a bug or a mouse or something?

Addie stunned by the sound of Miranda's voice, her head shot up and she gave her surprised look. "Just taking out my frustrations," she said as she bit her lower lip.

Miranda could now see what she was taking her frustrations out on, "On your wedding bands?" she looked taken aback.

Addie slumped at her desk and sighed, "Well everyone is going to find out sooner or later." She pursed her lips, "Derek and I are getting a divorce."

A concerned look came over her face as she headed to Addie's side. "I'm so sorry, what brought this on?" she said as she put her arm around Addie's shoulder.

Addie shrugged a look of defeat crossed her face, "I stopped being an idiot?"

Miranda looked confused, so she continued. "Lets just say I receive a wake up call telling me that there was no way my marriage was ever going to work, so I signed the papers," she shrugged.

"So, what did that miserable SOB do?" Miranda started to ask.

"Look Miranda, I'd love nothing more then to spill all the details to you, but I just can't go into it because Derek is your colleague and I really would rather not say anymore," she gave her a weak smile.

"Ah honey you don't have to say another word," Miranda understood, obviously Addie had somehow discovered Derek and Meredith exchanged a little more then longing looks at that stupid prom. She had heard the talk around the hospital already, more then one person had seen Dr. Shepherd drag Dr. Grey into the exam room. She must have found out about their tryst and was just being too classy to tell the details unlike that no good, soon to be ex-husband of hers, who made it common knowledge how his wife had slept with his best friend. Considering the way he had treated his wife for that last six months, she bet there were some extenuating circumstances, McDreamy my ass.

"Thank you Miranda," she gave her a weak smile.

"What do you say you come over to dinner tonight? It's been far too long since we had you over, and it will be even more fun since I don't have to invite your miserable soon to be ex-husband," she grinned. They both laughed.

Addie knew she didn't really mean the remark about Derek but she was happy to have someone else on her side. "I'd love to, the only thing," she hesitated. What will she think when she tells her she has company in town and it's none other then Mark Sloan, everyone one at Seattle Grace knows he is the one she had the affair with?

"Is there a problem?"

"Well, I got an unexpected visitor last night."

Miranda raised her eyebrows in question.

"Mark," she said shyly.

"Mark?" as in The Mark, she thought.

"The Mark," she nodded.

"Really?" Miranda's eyebrows rose even higher.

"It's nothing like that," she tried to explain. "I was so upset about Derek, I called Mark. Well I didn't really call him, but I called and hung up before he could answer. He saw a missed call from me and figured I was in trouble and needed him. He is here as my friend and only as a friend," she looked desperately at her, pleading with her to believe what she said.

"Well bring him along too. Tucker will be home this evening too. Say yes, it will be fun."

"Okay let me call Mark and I'll let you know," she smiled. "By the way what brought you here?

"Oh right I almost forgot Karev," she wasn't sure if this was a good time to bring that sorry excuse for an intern up but what the hell.

"Oh damn right Karev, I forgot all about him. Do you think he has suffered enough?" she laughed.

"Well if you would have asked me that 48 hours ago I would have said no, but I am inclined to think maybe you can lay off him?" She looked hopefully, she was already down one intern, damn that Stevens, what the hell was that girl thinking?

"Okay consider him back at your disposal, just give him the occasional rectal or delousing case," they both laughed.

"Ok time to round up what's left of my interns, and let me know about tonight," she headed to the door but was stopped short.

"Miranda thanks;" she gave her a slight nod, "This really helped."

Miranda gave her a short nod and headed out the door.

Addie sat behind her desk; she pulled out her blackberry and looked at her schedule for the day. She didn't have an appointment for almost two hours and she had already finished her rounds. Only thing left to do was make a few phone calls, mainly her attorney and then Mark.

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"Addison," the chief said sternly. "You can not break your contract."

"But," she stammered.

"No you are under contract, so as long as you want to continue practicing medicine you can not break your contract," Richard's voice started to rise. He softened as he looked at the woman sitting before him. He knew she was in pain, but running away wasn't going to do her any good. "Look Addison, running away from the situation isn't going to help. Come on you have to know it won't. Did it help you and Derek out when he came running here?"

She looked defeated. "No," she whispered.

"No it didn't, if anything it made matters worse. Okay you and Derek are getting divorced, and I know that it's not because you have fallen out of love with him," he was trying to be as sympathetic as possible. "Running away from your feelings isn't going to help you heal. You need to face this situation head on. I know you Addie; you have to be able to stand up to him and what he has done in order to heal." He smiled at her, "How much do you want to bet you will thank me down the line?"

Addison scowled at her mentor, "I highly doubt it. Okay so you won't let me out of my contract. I have to accept that. I have another proposition for you then," she pursed her lips and composed her thoughts. "Since I am stuck here, how about you hire Mark Sloan?" She looked at him holding her breath. This was going to make him explode.

"Hire Mark Sloan!" he exploded. He rose to his feet and started pacing the room, "Are you serious?"

"Absolutely," she gave him a curt nod, "If you expect me to stay on, you will hire Mark Sloan."

"Addison you are under contract so you are staying on whether I hire Mark Sloan or not," he said with a nod.

"If not I'll hire an attorney," she knew she was bluffing, but it was worth a shot. "I'll just tell them the work is environment hostile and the interns are. . . "

He cut her off, "You win, have Mark call me to set up a meeting."

"Now that that is settled, I am going to need a few days off."

Richard stood in front of her with his arms crossed looking very stern, "Why?"

"I'm flying down to the Santo Domingo for a quickie divorce."

"Addison," he intoned his disappointment.

"Richard, Derek and I have already agreed on how to split our assets, so why wait on a long drawn out procedure when I can get it over with in a couple of days? I need to get this over and done with; I've already wasted enough of my life," she implored. "I fly to Santo Domingo spend the night and I can file the next day, it's over and done with and I can get on with my life sans Derek."

"Fine, you can have the time off," he said shaking his head.

"Thank you Richard," she rose from her seat and gave him a hug.

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	2. Chapter 2

**Recovery**

**Part II**

Addison had flown into Santo Domingo Las Americas Airport that Monday evening; she was exhausted from the long flight and had the cab take her directly to her hotel. She checked into the InterContinental Hotel V Centernario. She called Mark to let him know she had arrived safely, told him she was tired and didn't feel like talking, all she wanted was to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a stressful day; she had to establish a one day residency before she could file the papers. By Wednesday her divorce would be final and she would be heading back home.

Addison was tossing and turning in her sleep, she was in the middle of a nightmare and she was reliving the morning she left Derek in her dream.

_Addison was gathering their evening clothes to drop them off at the dry cleaners. She started emptying his pockets; he was always forgetting to clean them out. She reached in his pants pocket and felt cloth, puzzled she pulled it out. It was a pair of black silk underwear and they were not hers. _

_Derek walked out of the shower to see his wife standing before him; a feeling of dread came over him, she stood frozen before him, he looked to her hands and that was when he saw them, the underwear, Meredith's underwear._

"_Addison?"_

_She stood there in front of him, still holding the underwear in her hand "Does this make us even?" her voiced sounded so far away. A tear started to trickle down her cheek, "Well?"_

_Derek just stood there motionless._

_She put her head back and let out a small whimper. "Please Derek tell me what you want from me," her voice remained low and controlled. "What do you want? Do you want me to stand here and watch you continue your affair with Meredith? Is that what my punishment is, we stayed married and you screw Meredith Grey?" her voiced cracked._

_Still Derek stood motionless before her. _

_That's when she snapped, "You god damn miserable son of a bitch." She spat out, "Why, why did you do this?" She looked down at her hand and saw she was still holding the offending underwear in her hand; she dropped them as if she had been burned. "Please explain to me why?" she implored. "I gave you ever opportunity in the world to leave me. I told you if you didn't want me sign the papers," she cried. "I didn't want to be with you if you didn't want me," she took a deep breath, "Why did you sleep with Meredith Grey?" Her anger started to rise again, "Just yesterday I gave you to opportunity to end this and what did you do?" The tears started to stream faster down her cheeks. "You gave me hope again. You gave me hope. You invited me to the god damn prom led me to believe that you still wanted to work things out." She picked up the paper weight sitting on the dresser next to her and threw it at him, missing him by a hair. "Oh, I get it; it was all about hurting me," her stomach started to churn, "This was one gigantic elaborate way to pay me back for Mark."_

_Derek had attempted to protest, "It was not like that."_

"_Bullshit," she snapped back. "I get it now you didn't want me anymore, but my having an affair with Mark bruised your massive ego," she scowled at him and reached the vase on the dresser and threw that at his head. He ducked out of the way that time and it shattered behind him sending glass across the room, her aim was improving. "I'm done, I can't do this anymore," she sobbed. "I just can't do this anymore," she crumpled to the floor and continued to sob._

_Derek couldn't look her in the eye; he whispered, "I can't deal with this right now," and quickly excited the trailer._

Addison shot upright in her bed, she was sweating and she could feel the tears warmth upon her face. She walked to the bathroom and rinsed her face with cold water. She looked up into the mirror; she could see the stress exhibited on her face. She took a deep breath and slowly released it and murmured to herself, "Get a grip girl, it's almost over."

She exited the bathroom and looked around the room. She noticed a single cup coffee maker in the corner along with an assortment of coffee packs and tea bags. She took the coffee pot to sink and filled it with water then poured it in the coffee maker for the hot water, then pulled out a coffee mug and an herbal tea bag. When the hot water finish pouring through the coffee maker, she filled the coffee mug along with the tea bag and let it steep.

Picking up the mug she walked back over to the bed and sat back down. She paced her hand on the phone, contemplating whether or not to call Mark. She looked over to the alarm clock, it read two a.m. Seattle was three hours behind, so it was eleven p.m. in Seattle. She picked up the phone and dialed. She was having second thoughts when Mark's groggy voice said, "Hello?"

"Hi," she meekly said.

"Hey," he sounded more alert, "Is something wrong?"

"No, I just couldn't sleep," she said shyly.

"Why not?"

"Bad dream."

"I'm glad you called then. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, I want to forget about it."

"Ok, how about I tell you about my first day at Seattle Grace then?"

"It was that interesting?"

"Nope, sooo boring it will put you back to sleep," he could hear her laugh through the line.

"Sounds just like what the doctor ordered," she closed her eyes and gently rubbed them. "Commence with the boring story about your day," she snuggled into her blankets.

"I entered Seattle Grace exactly at eight a.m. sharp. Richard greeted me and had Dr. Karev give me a tour . . ." he continued to talk about his boring day. After sometime passed, he could hear Addie's steady breathing, he knew she was a sleep. "Sweet dreams my love," he whispered and carefully hung up the phone.

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Addison stretched and rolled over. She sat up in bed and took a look around her room. Her hair was mussed from the tossing and turning during her sleep, she had slept in her usual ribbed tank top and a red pair of boy shorts. She noticed the phone off the hook, picked it up, the line was dead from being off the hook for so long. She replaced the receiver and she smiled to herself as she remembered why the phone was off the hook, Mark was being so sweet to her. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and slowly got up and stretched again. She crossed the room to the glass sliding doors, opened them and looked outside.

She had an amazing view of the ocean, she inhaled deeply. The sea air tickled her nose. She stepped onto the balcony and leaned on the railing taking her surroundings in, the sandy beach stretched on for miles. There were few very tourists up at this time of the morning, just a few rollerbladers, some joggers and a group of older women doing their power walking.

The local merchants were starting to open up their stands. A large number of souvenir shops, food carts and places to rent bikes, boats, mopeds, if you could ride it, you could rent it. She pushed herself back off the rail and returned to her room. She needed to find the courthouse and get the prep work done so she could file the papers tomorrow. After that she would have an entire day to kill.

She looked in her bag for her for something to wear then pulled out an orange floral sundress and undergarments. She entered the bathroom, turned on the shower, then tossed her clothes on the counter. She pulled out her toothbrush and proceeded to brush her teeth.

She could hear the phone ringing from the other room; she ran out of the bathroom, launched herself on the bed and reached across for her phone. "Hello?" she was expecting it to be Mark, to wish her luck, she was wrong.

Addie let out a grimace, "Hello mother."

"Addison what on earth are you doing in Santo Domingo?" her mother demanded.

Addie let out a long sigh, "How did you find out I was here?" She could hear the shower still running, "Hang on a minute mom." She ran into the bathroom and turned the shower off. "Okay I'm back; now tell me how did you find out I was here?"

"I called your office when you didn't answer your cell phone. Your secretary told me," she explained. "So, tell my why you are in Santo Domingo without your husband."

"Well," she hesitated.

"Addison," her mom gave her that tone.

"I was going to call you when I got back home."

"Call me and tell me what? Come on Addison spit it out."

"I am down here filing for a divorce," she said quickly.

"I'll be there in time for lunch," said crisply. "Meet me in the lobby at noon."

"Mom you don't need to come, I'll be heading back home on Wednesday morning."

"I am not going to allow my baby girl to be all alone when she is filing for a divorce."

"Fine," Addie shook her head, "I'll see you in the lobby at noon."

"I have to go now; my flight is getting ready to board. I'll see you at noon and honey."

"Yes mom?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, mom."

Addison stretched out on the bed and groaned. She didn't know if she was ready to explain the failure of her marriage to her mother. She rolled off the bed and headed back to the bathroom to take her shower.


	3. Chapter 3

**Recovery **

**Part III**

The rumor mills were running rampant through out the hospital ever since the memo was sent out that Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd was going to be referred to as Dr. Montgomery from now on. A group of nurses were gossiping about the memo in the cafeteria.

"I heard from her secretary that she was out of town for the next three days," one said.

"I heard she went to Santo Domingo to get a quickie divorce," another said.

"I heard she found Dr. McDreamy and Grey getting it on in the exam room," Said another.

"Yeah, I heard she found them and ran straight for Dr. McSteamy," another piped in.

"You think she and McSteamy have been together all along?" another asked curiously.

Unbeknownst to the group of gossips, Mark Sloan was leaning against the wall listening to their chatter. Mark had talked to Addie that morning, and she told him that she hated the idea that the hospital would be gossiping about Derek and Meredith and how pathetic she was. Mark told her she was in no way pathetic and no one would think that of her. He frowned; he hated the idea that Addie was going to come back to this. He had enough, he pushed off the wall and headed toward the gossiping nurses.

"Ladies," he interrupted.

They all looked at him with shocked expressions on their faces.

"Dr. Sloan," the group murmured.

"If you really want to know what's going on just ask."

"Well," one nurse asked.

"Dr. Montgomery and Dr. Shepherd are getting divorced. They are not blaming each other for the end of their marriage. They simply decided that they couldn't work things out after all, and decided it was for the best to end things." He added, "And for the record, Dr. Montgomery and I are only friends. I have too much respect for her to ever hurt her again," he started to walk away, but squat down next to the ladies, "But when Dr. Montgomery is ready to move on and have a relationship with me, you'll be the first to know," he winked and went on his way.

The women started to fan themselves one said, "Definitely Dr. McSteamy." They all agreed.

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Addison steeled herself; it was almost noon, time to go find her mother. She exited the elevator and saw her mother across the lobby; she was standing by the line of windows staring off into the distance.

Addison studied her mother for a moment, she was a good four inches shorter then her, her short hair was elegantly styled, and was now platinum blonde. She had started turning gray a number of years ago and decided to go blonde, instead of keeping her original red that she had shared with her daughter. Her mother looked amazing for her age; she had turned sixty-three earlier that year. She was still thin and very fit; she worked out with a personal trainer every morning. She was wearing a yellow floral sundress, and she smiled to herself when she noticed, a pair of four inch, strappy heals. Her mother turned and looked in her direction. She took a deep breath, exhaled, put a smile on her face and headed toward her mother.

She held her arms out as she approached gave her a big smile and said, "Mom." The women hugged tightly.

Madeline Montgomery hugged her daughter then held her back at arms length so she could get a better look at her daughter. She pursed her lips and shook her head, "I can see you have not been getting enough sleep." She frowned with concern, "You poor thing, look at the bags under yours eyes and you have gotten much too thin." She then smiled, "After lunch we will make an appointment with the spa and fix you right up. We are going to get the works," she beamed.

"Gee thanks mom," she shook her head at her mother, but was smiling. "I didn't realize I needed _fixing_ up," she laughed.

"By the way, I took the liberty of changing your room," she smiled up at her daughter.

"You what?" she asked in surprised

"I change your room to a two bedroom suite; they should be moving your things as we speak."

"Mom," she complained.

"Hey, I thought it would be fun if we shared a suite," she smiled brighter.

"Okay," Addie relented. "It probably would be fun," she gave her mother another hug.

"Are ready for lunch? I made a reservation at Brasserie," Addie nodded. "Okay let's go then," Madeline linked her arm with her daughter's and guided her to the restaurant.

The hostess showed them to their table, they seated themselves. They only had to wait a moment for the waiter to arrive and ask if they would like anything to drink. They both order an iced tea.

Madeline paused for the waiter to leave before talking again. A look of concern crossed her face as she studied her daughter, "Okay now tell me what's going on." She reached across the table for her hand, "I thought things were getting better between you and Derek." She gave her hand a little squeeze.

Addie gave her mother a weak smile. "I thought so too," she hesitated and bit her lower lip. "I was wrong," she closed her eyes and tried to maintain her composure. She was frustrated she didn't know where to begin. She dropped her head back and let out a sigh, "God I am so stupid."

"Hey," her mom said gently as she gave her hand a squeeze. "You are not stupid," she looked intently at her daughter. "There is nothing wrong with trying to working things out with your husband, before tossing a marriage away," she gave her hand another squeeze. "Now if you don't want to tell me what happened, I will understand," she gave her a reassuring smile. "Just knowing you decided to end things is good enough for me. Just know I am here to listen," she tilted her head, "Sometimes it's good to get it all out."

The waiter arrived with their drinks and asked if they were ready to order, they both ordered seared Ahi Tuna with a Caribbean salsa. Addie hesitated until the waiter left.

"What do you say we table this discussion for now," she gave her mother a weak smile. "I promise I will go into more detail this evening, after dinner," she said with a nod. "Now tell me how Benton, Maura and the kids are. I need to hear something happy for a change."

Benton was Addison's older brother; he was a surgeon as well, cardiology was his specialty. His wife Maura was a pediatrician. They had two children, their son Morgan was twenty was pre-med. Their daughter Aubrey was thirteen, and she was getting ready to graduate the eighth grade.

"Did you talk to Maura about coming out for Aubrey's graduation?" her mother asked.

"I did, it's on my schedule I already it cleared it with Richard, so I will definitely be there."

"Oh, you missed it we had them over last weekend, we were serving fondue and Aubrey starting telling about how she had watched a program about fondue and they were using very weird items to dip in the sauce, and she said _they even dipped a pickled_. Then Maura pipes _in I wouldn't want to dip a pickle_. And Aubrey gave Maura a sheepish look and said _Mom, that kind of sounds dirty_."

Addie burst out into laughter. Leave it to her niece; she always had a way of saying something to make her laugh.

Madeline smiled at her daughter; it was good to see her laugh. "And Maura was so flustered, she said _I wasn't even going there, but oh my god you are right. It does sound a little dirty, now that I think about it, but I certainly wasn't expecting my thirteen year old daughter to point it out to me_." They both laughed again, "Aubrey then proceeded to tell her mother that she was in junior high, their mind always goes there." The women continued with their laughter.

Their waiter approached with there food, he smiled at the laughing women as he placed a plate in front of each then asked if they needed anything else. "Enjoy," he said and he was off.

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Mark and Miranda where having lunch together, she had been concerned about Addie and wanted to ask Mark how she was doing. She was sure he had talked to her since she left to file for the divorce.

"So, have you heard from Addie yet?" she inquired.

He nodded, "I talked to her just a little while ago; she had just finished at the courthouse and was getting ready to have lunch with her mother."

"Lunch with her mother?" she looked surprised. "I didn't realized she was going down there with her mother."

"She didn't either," he grinned. "It seems Madeline called her office and her secretary told her Addie was in Santo Domingo. Once she found that out, she was on the next plane."

They laughed.

Mark noticed out of the corner of his eye Derek chasing Meredith Grey; he shook his head with a frown and Miranda followed where his gaze lead, she frowned shook her head as well.

Derek chased Meredith into the elevator. She sighed and ignored him. He stood next to her silently staring at her, giving her his puppy dog eyes, trying to get her to break and say something to him. She continued to ignore him. The doors to the elevator slid open once more and Meredith quickly exited the elevator without a word. Derek slumped against the back of the elevator, he looked completely dejected.

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Madeline and Addison had spent the day at the spa getting as Madeline put it _the works_, which included a pedicure, manicure, facial and massage. Madeline continued to entertain her daughter with the antics of her niece. It had made her miss her niece even more, she was so glad she would be heading to Denver in two weeks.

They decided on room service instead of going out. They sat on the balcony with a light tropical breeze blowing on them. They had just finished up with their meal and chatted over their wine. "What do you say we move inside and I will tell you more about Derek and my split?"

Madeline nodded to her daughter and picked up the bottle of Shiraz and said, "Shall we?" They returned to the suite. Madeline set the bottle of wine on the coffee table and settled herself on the couch next to her daughter, they both got comfortable.

"Ok," she gave her daughter a comforting smile, "Tell me all about it."

Addie closed her eyes and swallowed. "I couldn't compete," she simply stated.

Madeline kept a neutral look on her face and allowed her to continue. She didn't want to show Addie her true feelings, she was furious, what the hell does she mean she couldn't compete?

"Before I arrived in Seattle," she winced, "Derek met someone else." She paused again, this was harder then she expected. She gave her mother another weak smile, "As you already know I went to Seattle fully intending to divorce Derek." Her mother gave her a slight nod, "I only told you that after talking with Derek, we decided to try and work things out." She sighed. "What I didn't tell you," she paused again. "I didn't tell you Derek had started a new relationship. I gave him a chance to get out. I told him that I didn't want him if he did want me," she shrugged. "I gave him a choice and he chose to stay with me and try to get to where we were before." She looked down and shook her head. "The only problem was, he still wanted to be with her. I allowed him to treat me like crap for the last six months because I thought I deserved it." She could feel the tears burn the back of her eyes.

"Honey," Madeline started, but she raised her hand to stop her.

She shrugged again, "I thought if I just continued to take what he dished out, he would finally feel I had enough and forgive me." She closed her eyes and swallowed, "I was wrong, he never had any plans to forgiving me." She gave her a slight smile and a shrug the tears glistened in her eyes. "He wants to be with her, not me. All this time he didn't end it because he didn't want to be the bad guy. It was all about him making himself look like the good guy, so people would say _what a guy, his wife cheats on him with his best friend and he tries to work it out_. He was waiting all this time for me to end it, so he could say _at least I tried_." She shook her head again, "God I am such an idiot."

"Hey," she said softly, giving her daughter's hand a little shake, "It takes two to make a marriage work and it takes two to destroy one." She gave her a little smile, "You tried. It's not your fault he didn't really want to try. You can't blame yourself for that." She said a little sterner, "Yes, you were wrong to have an affair with Mark." She shot a hurt look at her mother, "But that being said, Derek was no saint either. I was there remember? I saw how he was never there. All those holidays you spent with us, with Derek nowhere to be seen? Derek would always be working, but Mark was there. I saw how much it hurt him to see you being hurt by Derek. The affair definitely shouldn't have happened, but I understand how badly you were hurting. We all did except for Derek." She continued more sympathetic, "Derek never should have said he was going to try, if he had no intention in putting an effort into your relationship and moving on. He should have given you your freedom and let you start rebuilding." She gave her a closed mouth smile, her eyes sparkled. "So its six months later its time to move on," she said with a nod.

She looked up at her mom gave her a weak smile, "Right, time to move on."

They clink glasses and her mother said, "To moving on."

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	4. Chapter 4

**********WTH, I didn't see this coming, it certainly is not what I had in mind or even remotely planned, but Addison seemed to make me do it.**

**Recovery**

**Part IV**

"I'm sorry."

Meredith's head snapped in the direction where the voice had come from, "Excuse me?"

Addison Montgomery had been leaning on the back of the elevator when Meredith Grey entered. Addison had been shocked by the sight of Meredith, she had always been thin, but she seemed almost sickly now, more fragile. She had known from hospital gossip that Meredith and Derek were not together. For the two weeks since she walked away from Derek, she had purposely avoided both Derek and Meredith. The last time she had spoken to him was two days ago, only because she wanted to give him a copy of the divorce decree in person, she figured that was the least she could do. It was a simple exchange. She had knocked on the door, he called for her to enter, she handed him the paper. He simply nodded at her and asked her if there was anything else. Addison slowly walked to the elevator control panel and pushed the stop button. She turned back to Meredith looked her in the eye and calmly stated, "I said I was sorry."

Meredith was stunned, why on earth would Addison Montgomery be apologizing to her. She stared at the other woman and shrugged, "Why on earth would you be apologizing to me? You should be screaming at me and scratching out my eyes." She braced herself; she might be giving her ideas.

Addison threw her head back and let out a hoarse laugh. Then looked Meredith straight in the eye again, "Don't get me wrong, I'm no saint two weeks ago I _would _have be screaming and ranting and scratching your eyes out," she gave her a smirk. "I've had a lot of time to think lately. I stood back and took a good look at myself, and I didn't like what I saw." She paused and took a more serious tone, "And don't think that I am saying your affair with Derek was okay, it wasn't. Just like my affair with Mark wasn't ok. No one here should get a free pass." Then she looked Meredith straight in the eye again, "I should have let go sooner, I was kidding myself. Instead of facing that my marriage was over, I stuck my head in the sand and pretended like everything was okay." She gave a small shrug and said, "I just wanted you know I was sorry, because my actions hurt you. I want to be able to move forward with my life and put this last year behind me." She gave her a tight smile, "And part of my be able to move on, is accepting my responsibility in this mess. So, I'm sorry." With that she pushed the start button on the elevator.

"Thank you Addison." It was Meredith's turn to push the stop button, "But I owe you an apology too." She took a deep breath and continued, "I owe you an apology and you are right I should not get a pass for sleeping with your husband, and I apologize. I should never have slept with your husband. You had pointedly asked me the day before if I were sleeping with your husband and I said no. And it was true then. I was being honest, I hadn't slept with Derek then, but little more then twenty-four hours later I was a liar." A tear escaped and trickled down her cheek, "I was a liar and I slept with your husband. I never wanted to be _that_ woman. I never wanted to be the dirty little mistress, but that is what I became, the dirty little mistress and I'm sorry, I'm sorry I destroyed your marriage."

Addison hit the start button again and said, "Don't be so hard on yourself Meredith; there really wasn't much of a marriage left to destroy. The real damage was done a very longtime ago," she reached out and put her hand on Meredith's shoulder and gave it a little reassuring squeeze. To her surprise Meredith reached out and pulled her into a hug and she started to cry. Addie rubbed her back and comforted her, "Just give it time. I promise things will get better."

The doors to the elevator slid open revealing the unusual encounter. George and Cristina standing before the elevator they both stood open mouthed. Meredith and Addison both exited and said in unison, "What are you all looking at?"

"No . . . Nothing," George said.

"The apocalypse?" Cristina smiled back at Meredith. Cristina hooked her arm in Meredith's and guided her away, "What that heck was that about?" she whispered.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Recovery **

**Part V**

Derek looked over Beth Ryan's chart again she had a meningioma, and it would need to be removed as soon as possible. The only problem with doing the surgery immediately was that she was approximately 32 weeks into her pregnancy. Derek leaned back in his chair, rubbed his eye and sighed. He had no choice he had to call Addison in on this one. She had done a very good job of avoiding him since they split. They had barely seen each other, let alone spoken to one and other. Last time he spoke to her was almost two weeks ago when she had come to his office to give him a copy of the divorce decree. He was shocked by how much seeing that paper had hurt him. He couldn't even look her in the eye. All he managed to get out in her presence was, _do you need anything else_?

He frowned, he had heard the hospital gossip about Addison and Meredith, and he frowned harder. He had checked the board earlier; he knew that Addison would be in surgery for at least another hour. He reached for the phone, picked up the receiver and asked to be connected to Addison's voice mail; he wasn't quite ready to speak with her. He let out another sigh while he waited to be connected. He felt a pang as her voice come on the phone asking to leave a message after the beep. He waited for said beep, then left her a detailed message regarding Beth Ryan's condition and relayed that he would have a copy of her chart sent to her office. Finishing leaving the message, he hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair, steepled his fingers in front of him. He frowned again as he thought about the hospital gossip. Addison had apparently apologized to Meredith. How could she forgive Meredith and not him?

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Addison lightly knocked on Beth Ryan's door and entered. "Good afternoon Beth," she reached out to shake the woman's hand. "I'm Dr. Montgomery, Dr. Shepherd asked me for a consult." She gave the woman laying in bed before her a reassuring smile. "Before we begin, has Dr. Shepherd explained your condition?" Beth nodded. Addie could see tears starting to form in the woman's eyes, and she gave her arm a gentle squeeze. "Hey it's going to be okay. I've looked over your chart and you seem like you are far enough along in your pregnancy that we can take the baby and he will do just fine." She smiled down on the woman again, "I set up an ultrasound for this afternoon." Addie explained while she started to examine Beth. She said with a reassuring tone as she went on, "I also spoke to your OB, Dr. Williams, she assured me that up to this point there have been no complications. So relax, after the ultrasound is done, and I've gone over the results we will talk about your options."

Derek stood in the doorway and watched the exchange between his former wife and his current patient. He braced himself and entered the room. "Hello Beth," he said with a smile. "I hope Dr. Montgomery is reassuring you." He looked at Addison, but she avoided eye contract. She seemed oblivious to his even being in the room with her. Derek wrinkled his brow and thought to himself _how can she forgive Meredith and not him_?

He could barely hear Beth's reply, "Yes Dr. Shepherd, Dr. Montgomery has really eased my mind."

Without thinking he snapped at Addison, "How could you forgive Meredith?" Addison continued to ignore him, "You know, you can at least acknowledge my existence."

With that Addison's eye snapped up and connected with his. "Dr. Shepherd this is not the time or place for this discussion," she replied coolly and firmly. He tried to protest, but she cut him off, "I am in the middle of a consult and I would appreciate it if you kept our personal business out of here. Act like a professional Dr. Shepherd." She held her hand out in Beth's direction, "Mrs. Ryan has enough on her mind with out having to deal with our personal problems." The emotion remained out of her voice and she said evenly, "Now please leave and I will discuss Mrs. Ryan's prognosis with you after I have gathered all the information I need." She looked down on Beth and gave her a little wink. She was finished with Derek, she dismissed him.

Derek bowed his head then nodded, "I apologize Mrs. Ryan. Dr. Montgomery is right," Addison gave him a firm nod. "If you will excuse me now," he gave her a weak smile. "I will be back later to check on you," with that he left the room. He leaned against the wall next to Mrs. Ryan's room.

Addison looked at Beth with concern; she hoped Derek's questions didn't upset her or make her confidence in her doctors' waiver. The last thing she needed was to have her patient think that her professionalism was going to be compromised by her personal life, "once again, I apologize for that."

"So you and Dr. Shepherd use to date?" asked with raised eyebrows.

"No we were married," she replied. "I don't want you to worry; our patients come first. Neither one of us will let any personal problems interfere with our work."

"Is that why you divorced?"

"You could say that," she gave her a weak smile. "Ok enough about my ex, let's talk about you and your baby," she smiled down at the woman in bed. "The reason for the ultrasound is to check your son's lung development. If his lungs have not matured enough then we will proceed with a corticosteroid treatment that should help mature his lungs. After a twenty-four hour period we will do another ultrasound and see how his lungs look. Once we've determined if they are mature enough we will schedule a c-section." She waited for Beth to take in everything she told her and asked, "Do you have any questions?"

"No, not right now, but maybe after the ultrasound," she smiled nervously up at Addison.

"Okay then, I'll see you after I've looked at the ultrasound results." She gave her arm a pat and exited the room.

Derek was still waiting outside the room, and grabbed Addison's arm as she passed. "Okay time to talk. Explain to me why you can forgive Meredith for sleeping with me, but you can't forgive me?" he whispered angrily.

Addison rolled her eyes and tried to walk away, but he maintained his grip on her arm. "Derek please, I am not getting into this with you," she replied in a low concise whisper.

"You owe me," he retorted.

Her eyes widened, "I owe you?" She was flabbergasted, "I don't owe you a damn thing." She tried again to walk away.

"Eleven years of marriage and you don't owe me one explanation?" his voice started to rise.

She knew he wasn't going to stop until she talked to him; she started to pull him down the hall. "Okay you insist on having this conversation, then let's at least move it to somewhere private. I am in no mood to air our problems to the entire hospital again."

They entered an empty office, she slowly turned to face Derek, "First can you please let go of my arm?" he still maintained a death grip on her arm, she was sure she would have a bruise. He let go quickly, like he had just burned his hand. "I do not have a clue _were_ you got the idea that I forgave Meredith for sleeping with you. There is no true to that statement. I never forgave her; I simply apologized for my actions, for my part in this entire mess. I felt I owed her an apology. As for you, I owe you nothing."

"I don't understand how you can be mad at me for having an affair when _you_ did the same exact thing. I forgave you!" he yelled.

"Bullshit!" she snapped back. "You _never_ forgave me. You continued to hold it against me. Do you honestly think the affair is what I can't forgive you for?" she shook her head. "Derek the affair was just the tip of the iceberg; it was a result of much bigger problems."

Derek shook his head, "We were working out our problems."

She could feel the anger rise and her stomach started to churn, "NO!" She bit back, "_We_ were not. I was trying to work it out, and you ignored me. I was your _obligation_." She spit out the word with disgust. "I tried my damnedest to get our marriage back on track, and all you could do was think about Meredith Grey. So no I do not owe _you_ an apology." She had to get this over with. This conversation was starting to make her ill. "If anyone is owed an apology, it's me and Meredith Grey. Maybe you could apologize for putting us through six months of hell." With that she stormed out of the room. He watched her storm out with an open mouth.

Mark watched Addie run out of the office; he had heard Derek and Addie arguing, she was definitely giving him an earful. He hated seeing her hurt, but he knew she needed to get that off her chest. He only hoped she never had to repeat that conversation again. She was leaning against the wall crying. He started to approach her, but she took off running down the hall. He chased her, but came up short when she entered the ladies room. He paced back and forth, waiting for her to come out. She was taking an awfully longtime in there. He didn't want her crying in there alone. He looked both ways and saw the no one was around, and then he entered the ladies room. "Addison," he said quietly, he listened for an answer. He cringed as he heard her retching, he walked up to the stall she was in and slowly entered. He crouched down next to her, pulled her hair back and then rubbed her back. He whispered, "Hey Addie, I know that was tough, but you did good. You know you had to get that out. You had to let him know how you feel," she nodded and retched again. He just waited patiently rubbing her back, wanting her to know he was there for her. She pushed herself way from the toilet and he said, "Are you feeling better?"

She nodded her head. He helped her up and led her to the sink, so she could wash up. She washed her hands, splashed her face with the water and rinsed her mouth out. He passed her some paper towels, and he dried her face and hands. He pulled her into a hung and kissed the top of her head. "Thank you," she whispered and then let out a small laugh. "I seem to be saying that to you a lot these days."

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	6. Chapter 6

**Recovery **

**Part VI**

Addison and Mark entered Seattle Grace walking arm and arm and laughing he had taken her to a little waterfront café he had discovered the last time he was in town. "Oh come on you can't be serious," she laughed.

"I swear to God I'm not lying," he grinned at her, he loved the sound of her laugh. "Call Shelia, she was there she will tell you exactly the same thing."

Derek was standing by the nurse's station and was attracted by Addison's laughter. It had been a longtime since he had heard her laugh, he tried to remember. He smiled when he did, it was the morning of their bad sex, and the smile was quickly erased from his face. He frowned as he continued to watch Addison and Mark's progression down the hall. He frowned even harder when Meredith walked up to Addison.

"Did you call Aubrey yet?" Mark asked.

"No, I know she will be disappointed I won't be able to make it for her graduation. Hopefully I can make it up to her some other way. I figured I'd wait until I looked at Mrs. Ryan's ultrasound before calling her so I'd have more time to talk to her."

"Dr. Montgomery?" Meredith said as she extended a file to Addison, "Here are the results of the Ryan ultrasound. Marsha is waiting on fifth in exam room two."

"Thank you Dr. Grey," she said taking the file from Meredith. She turned to Mark and said, "Thanks for lunch." She gave him a kiss on his cheek, "I'll get back to you later about dinner."

He smiled and said, "Okay let me know what you want, it's your turn to pick."

Addie turned and headed toward the elevators; she stopped and turned, "Grey are you coming?" Surprised that Addison wanted her to join her Meredith ran to catch up with Addison and then fell into step with her.

Mark smiled as he watched Addie walk away. He was so intent on watching Addie's departure, that he didn't notice Derek walk up to him; he got into Mark's face, "Are you sleeping with my wife again?" Derek asked angrily.

"She's not your wife anymore," Mark replied.

"Well?"

"What Addison and I do now is none of your damn business Derek," he started to walk away, but Derek grabbed his arm.

He stopped and turned and looked Derek in the eye and said in a low precise voice, "Let go of my arm right now," his eyes narrowed. Derek immediately let go, "Derek why the hell do you give a shit if Addison and I are sleeping together now? When you didn't give a damn when you were married to her?" Derek took a swing at Mark, but he was expecting it and he ducked the punch. Derek stood there without saying a word, "Do Addie a favor and leave her the hell alone. She's trying to move on, and it's not easy for her after the number you pulled on her." Mark grabbed him by the collar and pulled his fist back to punch Derek. But he stopped and said; "Addie was right. You aren't worth it," he let go, turned and walked away.

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Addison entered Beth Ryan's room, followed closely by Meredith. She had noticed this time; a man was in the room as well, most likely Mr. Ryan. "Good Afternoon Beth, I'd like to introduce you to Dr. Grey. She will be assisting me on your case." Beth introduced them to her husband Nick, they all exchanged hellos. Addison briefly went over Beth's condition with Mr. Ryan after Beth asked her to explain what was going on to her husband, then she continued, "After reviewing your ultrasound, we now have a course of action to take. I would like to start you on the Corticosteroid treatment this evening. As I told you before, this will allow your baby's lungs to develop and give him a better chance of breathing on his own after he is born. After a twenty-four hour period has passed, then we will do another ultrasound and see how things have progressed." She smiled down at Beth and gave her a moment to take things in, then asked, "Do you have any questions?"

"Yes," Beth replied timidly. "Will this treatment harm the baby or me?" Nick took his wife's hand and looked on with concern. Addison carefully went over the benefits and risks of this treatment, and answered all the concerns of both Mr. and Mrs. Ryan.

"Okay," Addie announced. "If you have no further concerns, we will get started."

Both Mr. and Mrs. Ryan nodded in agreement, "Okay then, its very simple we will give you the steroid via IV. Dr. Grey will get you set up and monitor your progress." Addison shook both Mr. and Mrs. Ryan's hands, "Very good, if you have any other questions or concerns feel free to ask Dr. Grey or have someone page me. I will see you in the morning," with that she exited the room.

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Addison stood outside the exam room; Mark was with a new patient. A young woman named Jane Moore and her son Billy. She waited at the door for him to finish with his patient.

"Ms. Moore typically we would have operated on Billy during his first year," Mark reached over and ruffled the three year old boy's hair. Billy looked up at him with bright eyes. The boy had a birth defect, a cleft lip and palate, the family was uninsured and that was why the boy hadn't had his defect fixed already. The child's case was brought to his attention by Amy Adams. Ms. Adams worked for the foundation Mark was affiliated with, the foundation helped pay the expenses of children in need of reconstructive surgery.

"Dr. Sloan I know Billy should have had the operation already, but since we are uninsured. We were never able to afford the surgery," Jane explained.

Mark looked at the young boy and smiled, "And that is why you are here, Ms. Adams sent me your son's file. Please relax; the foundation will cover all your son's expenses." Mark continued with an explanation of what would be involved for the operation. He rose when he finished, shook Jane's hand and said, "We will get Billy admitted this evening. I'll have his surgery scheduled for first thing in the morning."

"Thank you Dr. Sloan."

"You're welcome Ms. Moore." And to Billy, "I'll see you in the morning," he said with a smile.

He exited the room and found Addison standing there. "Hey there, did you decide on what you wanted for dinner?"

"I was thinking Chinese." She hesitated, "I was hoping for an early evening."

"Sounds good to me, I have an early surgery tomorrow," he said with a smile.

"Great," she smiled at him, and then she became more serious, "Time to go find Derek and update him on Mrs. Ryan."

"Good luck," she leaned over to kiss him on the lips without thinking, but as she pulled away and they locked eyes, she felt something she couldn't quite explain. She broke eye contact first, and took a step back.

"I'll . . . see you later," she managed to get out. She turned and left to find Derek, that didn't take very long, since he was down the hall at the nurse's station.

Derek watched Addison and Mark's exchange down the hall from him. When he noticed Addison coming his way, he quickly looked back down at the chart.

Addison approached Derek at the nurse's station. She was all business as she spoke to Derek, "I just wanted you to know that I've started Mrs. Ryan on a steroid protocol. We will be monitoring her through the night and will do another ultrasound tomorrow afternoon, if everything goes as planned. I will schedule her for a c-section the morning after the second ultrasound."

"Thank you Addison," he looked up at her expectantly.

"Do you need anything else?" she asked raising her eyebrows.

"Are you and Mark sleeping together?" he evenly asked.

She was stunned; she reached out and slapped him across the face. "How dare you ask me that?"

Derek rubbed his cheek and looked down, "I'm sorry, I had no right to ask you that."

She gave him a curt nod and turned and stormed away from him.

Addison couldn't believe his nerve, how dare he ask her such a question? It was none of damn his business. She saw Miranda approaching her, "You look like you are ready strangle someone."

"I am, my ex," she sounded exasperated. "I can't believe his nerve."

She stood back with raised eyebrows, "What did the rat bastard do now?"

"He had the _nerve_ to ask me if I am sleeping with Mark."

"I hope you told him it was none of his _damn_ business."

"Damn straight I did," she said with a nod.

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"It's okay Aunt Addie," she heard her niece say on the other end of the phone. Addison sat back in her chair as she listened to her niece, "I totally understand. After all both my parents are doctors, so I know sometimes you can't get away because of a patient."

They chatted awhile about all the activities going on with her up coming graduation. Then she brought up something that happened with her friends, "They were making fun of me, because I never really kissed a boy."

"Well you're thirteen; lots of people haven't kissed yet at that age. I know I didn't kiss a boy when I was thirteen," She reassured her niece.

"Well Ritchie, the boy all the girls think is hot, made it a little better though; he told me that he only ever kissed a girl once, so he thought it was cool that I never kissed a boy."

"That was a really nice thing to say."

"Aunt Addie can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"How old were you the first time you really kissed a boy?"

"Sixteen."

"Really?" she sounded shocked.

"Really and it was awful," she laughed.

"Who did you kiss and why was it so awful?

"Well his name was Skippy Gold; he was my lab partner for chemistry. I thought he was really cute and my girl friends thought he was kind of nerdy. He played the trombone in band and unfortunately, he had braces just like me."

"Unfortunately?" asked curiously, "Why what happened?"

"Yeah he kissed me outside chemistry class, and well, our braces locked. It was pretty embarrassing. The custodian used a pair of pliers to get us apart." She could hear her niece laughing across the line.

"Hey!" she yelled with mock hurt, "It wasn't funny, I was mortified."

"I'm . . . I'm . . . sorry," Aubrey got out in between fits of laughter.

Aubrey sobered and asked, "Aunt Addie I know I wasn't supposed to come for my two week visit this summer, but since you can't come for my graduation . . ."

"Oh the guilt," she laughed. "Of course Aubrey, things have changed. So absolutely, I'll talk to your mom and dad and find out what will be a good time."

"Seriously?" she said excitedly.

"Seriously," Addison's pager went off. "Okay squirt, I just got paged, so I have to go now. I love you."

"I love you too, Aunt Addie and thanks for the laugh," she giggled.

"You're welcome I'm glad the horrors of my youth could cheer you up," she could hear the laughter through the phone line again, "Bye sweetie."

"Bye" with that she hung up.

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	7. Chapter 7

**Recovery**

**Part VII**

Two nights later Mark and Addison were having dinner at their favorite bistro close to the airport. Mark had a late flight to New York, he needed to go back for the weekend and take care of some unfinished business. Addison had successfully delivered Beth Ryan's son that morning, Nicholas Robert Ryan would be most likely spending the next month in the NICU, he was a very strong little boy and he didn't have any major complication, so he should grow up to live a normal healthy life. Mark had discharged Billy Moore that morning, his surgery was a success, he would still need some additional surgeries down the line, and extensive orthodontic work, which the foundation would fund as well, but he was also going to look like every other boy.

"So, you will close on the penthouse apartment when you return?" Addison asked as she picked at her Chicken Milanese, her wine sat before her untouched as well.

"Yeah, Tuesday afternoon, you know the apartment across the hall from mine is still available" he grinned at her.

She smiled back "No, I'm still not interested, I know I have to get out of that damn hotel, but I think I really want a house instead of an apartment. Even though I really hated living in the trailer, I did like not living on top of other people. Miranda is going house hunting with me this weekend."

He looked over at her plate, concern shot across his face "Is there anything wrong with your food? Are you feeling sick?"

"No, I'm fine, it fine I'm just not hungry." She shrugged "I lose my appetite sometimes after a stressful day."

"Derek was giving you a hard time today?" he could feel the anger rise.

"Not really, just . . . I'll be glad when his involvement in this case is over. But really it was better today; at least he stopped yelling at me. Now I just need him to stop giving me those looks."

"Do you want me to talk to him?"

"NO!" she snapped.

Mark looked startled.

"No" she said more calmly "it's okay, I can handle him, you're involvement will only irritate him and make matters worse." She smiled at him and reached over to hold his hand "but thanks for offering that was really sweet of you" she gave his hand a little squeeze.

They continued to hold hands as they chatted. "I talked to Maura this afternoon; she agreed to let Aubrey come out the end of July." She smiled up at him again "I'm really looking forward to her visit."

"I'm looking forward to her visit too. We always have so much fun when she visits" he glanced down at her holding his hand smiled "I was thinking we could take her to the Pacific Science Center; I think she would really enjoy that."

"Yeah, you're right, she really would like that" her eye crinkled as she grinned back at him.

"What?" he knew she was laughing, but wasn't quite sure why.

"I was just thinking of what she said last summer" they both laughed.

"Oh my god" he laughed "I thought I was going to choke on my sandwich when she asked us if we were friends with benefits."

"I know!" her eyes widened and she gave his hand a little shake "and when she explained it was friends who had causal sex, with no commitment. Where the hell does a thirteen year old hear about that stuff?"

Their eyes locked, they laughed and in unison said "TV"

Mark looked down at his watch and said "we really need to get going; it's almost time for my check in." He motioned for the waiter, paid the bill and as they left the restaurant he guided her with his hand on the small of her back.

They pulled in front of the airport and got out of the car. Mark pulled his over night bag from the back seat and stepped up on the curb. He pulled her into a hug she said "have a safe trip" they pulled apart and looked into each other's eyes. Mark bent down and kissed her softly on her lips.

They pulled apart and he looked into her eyes, desire shone in her eyes, he swallowed afraid he was seeing things, then she reached up and pulled him back to her, back into a kiss. She started out tentatively, then she parted their lips and their tongues briefly touched, his body began to sizzle. From there the kiss intensified, their tongues searching each other, he didn't know if he could get enough of her, she had never kissed him like this before. His heart ached with the sweetness of their kiss. The kiss slowed and eventually they parted, they looked into each other's eyes, he still saw the desire there but it was mingled with some confusion.

He reached out and lightly stroked her cheek. He desperately wanted to tell her that he loved her but he knew it was too soon and that would frighten her. So, instead he kissed her cheek gently and softly said "I am going to miss you."

She still had that mixed look of desire and confusion on her face and she replied in a whispered "I'm going to miss you too."

He gave her a parting smile, turned and headed into the airport.

Addison lean on the car, her knees weak and thought _wow what the hell was that_?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

After the confusing good bye with Mark, Addie had spent her weekend off and on having him invade her thoughts. It's not like she and Mark had never kissed before, but that kiss was different, and the feelings that went along with that kiss confused her. She knew she still had feeling for Derek, even though he ripped her heart apart and she hated that she still did have feelings for him. But now there were these new feelings, new feelings for Mark, she had never anticipated having these feelings for him, especially after what happened last year, but there they were, she couldn't denied what she felt.

She tried as hard as she could to push aside her thoughts about Mark. She threw herself into looking for a place to live; she and Miranda had looked at several places. One of which she liked very much, it was close to the hospital, was new constructions with clean lines and an open feel to it. It had a large backyard and a view of Lake Washington, but she thought it was a little bigger then she was looking for. She really didn't need a four bedroom house, but she was still seriously considering buying it.

Meredith Grey was checking on Nicholas as Addison walked into the NICU. She looked up as she approached. "How is he doing this morning?"

Meredith smiled at her "He is doing wonderfully, he is breathing on his own now, if he keeps this up, his mother will be able to nurse him by the end of the week."

Addison reached over and picked up his chart and looked it over, she gave Meredith a couple of orders for her to follow up on their tiny patient "I just wanted you to know what a wonderful job you are doing on this case, Meredith, thank you for being so professional, I know we have our problems, but I want to thank you for keeping them out of here."

"I simply followed your lead Addison" she hesitated "I know we are not friends and probably never will be, but I respect you as a doctor and as a person." She gave her a weak smile "I am just relieved that Derek has been leaving me alone now, I think he finally realized we just are not going to work now."

"I'm glad to hear he is lying off, I know how difficult it is to work otherwise" she said reassuringly.

"I know you don't want to hear this, but believe me I have had nothing but regrets about what Derek and I did, I am just glad there aren't any other consequences that we will have to deal with after that mess." Addison looked at her with confusion, so she continued "I got my period yesterday; I was pretty worried that I might . . ."

"Ah, yes I guess that would have been awkward" she smiled weakly at her.

Meredith noticed a change in Addison's demeanor. She tried to ask about it, but she waved her off and then asked her to check on Mrs. Ryan.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Addison entered her office and leaned against the door. God, she hadn't even considered this. She had been so busy trying to move on from her married, she hadn't been paying attention. She started to pace her office, her mind racing. She started talking to herself out loud "no, this can't happen, not now" she continued to pace "I don't know if I can deal with this."

Miranda knocked on Addison's door, but she didn't answer, she had seen her rush past and run into her office slamming her door. She slowly opened the door to see Addison pacing back and forth talking to herself.

"Addison?"

She stopped her pacing abruptly and looked where the voice came from; she was startled to see Miranda standing there.

"What has you so riled up?" she asked firmly "Is Derek giving you a hard time again?"

"Oh god Miranda, I don't know what I am going to do. I . . ." she started to pace again, her agitation continued to rise.

"Addison" Miranda walked over to her, stopped her by putting her hands on her shoulders "Look at me and tell me what's wrong."

Miranda could see her deflate in front of her; she took a deep breath and said "I think I'm pregnant."

"You're what?" said in shock.

Addison started to pace again and went on "I think I'm pregnant, I . . . oh god this really can't be happening now" she stopped her pacing and let out a small scream of frustration.

"You think you are pregnant" she tried to keep a calm demeanor for her friend, since one of them needed to be "Ok, explain to me, what brought this on?"

Addison stopped and stared at her "I . . . I was talking with Meredith Grey, and we got into a conversation about Derek, then she said how relieved she was that there weren't going to be anymore consequences to you know" she shrugged.

Miranda nodded and said "go on."

"Meredith said she was so relieved that she started her period yesterday. That's when it dawned on me." She started to pace again.

"It dawned on you?" she looked confused, and then the light went on "When was your last menstrual cycle?"

"That's just it, I don't remember. Not since Derek and I split, that much I know." She continued her pacing.

"Addison" she snapped her fingers trying to get her attention "Addison" she said firmer, Addie stopped pacing and looked at Miranda "come on" she held her hand out to the other woman "lets go to an exam room and do a pelvic, it will only take a moment to answer your question." Addison nodded at the other woman who took her by the hand and let her lead her out of her office.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Well" Addie asked anxiously, leaning up on her elbow so she could look at Miranda.

Miranda gave her a nod.

Addison dropped back down on the table and covered her face and let out a groan, then whispered "shit" she tried to regain her composure and asked "how far along."

"Well, I'm not an expert in this area like you" she began.

"Miranda just spit it out" she snapped.

"Six to Seven weeks" she informed her.

"Oh god" she put her hands to her head and started to rub her temples.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked with concern.

"I don't know" she managed to get out. "I have a hell of a lot to think of right now" she groaned again "I think I'm going to be sick" she quickly jumped from the table and put her head over the sink, where she promptly lost her breakfast.

Miranda rubbed her back, trying to get her to relax "hey look on the bright side."

Addison turned her head and gave her a puzzled look "there is a bright side?

"Yeah that house you wanted to buy doesn't seem too big now, does it" she gave her a big smile, and pulled her into a hug.

"Oh god" she put her head on Miranda's shoulder and groaned "that is not funny."

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	8. Chapter 8

**Recovery **

**Part VIII**

"Hi mom," Addie said into the phone. She was still trying to get over the shock of finding out she was indeed pregnant. "Do you have time to talk?"

"Of course I do sweetie," Madeline said. She could tell by the sound of her voice something was wrong with her daughter. She wished desperately that she was with her right now.

"I . . . god I don't know how to say this," she inhaled deeply and let out a long breath.

"Oh Addie sweetie, it can't be that bad," she tried to encourage her.

Addie sighed deeply into the phone, "Oh I don't know about that, I . . ."

"Come on dear, just tell me what the problem is. I can't help you if I don't know what is going on," she was really starting to worry now.

"I'm pregnant," she said quickly before she would lose her nerve.

Madeline stared at the phone opened mouthed.

"Mom?" She tried to get a response, "Did you hear me? I said I was pregnant."

"I . . . I heard you dear." Her mind was racing; her daughter was pregnant, "How far along?" She wasn't sure if she wanted the answer to that question.

"Almost seven weeks."

"So it's Derek's then," she grimaced.

"Yes."

"Have you told him yet?" she said with concern.

"No."

"Are you going to tell him?" she closed her eyes and let out a slow breath. She told herself, count to ten and try not to scream.

"Yes."

Madeline's head was spinning; she thought my god Addison say something other then yes and no, "Honey?"

"Yes?"

"Do you want me to come out for a visit?" she immediately asked.

"Yes," Madeline could hear her daughter crying on the other end of the phone.

"Okay baby, I'll get the next possible flight," she hung up the phone and immediately made another call.

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It was coming to the end of the day and Mark had yet to see Addie. Mark had arrived back in Seattle early Monday morning. Instead of having Addie pick him up he had taken a cab to his hotel, and then driven on to Seattle Grace. He knew she had early rounds so he insisted on taking a cab over her protests. If he was being honest with himself then he would admit the truth, he was afraid to see her. Afraid that she was going to regret the kiss they shared. Afraid she had done some soul searching over the weekend and decided that it meant nothing. He looked up from the nurse's station and noticed Addison and Derek walking side by side. Addie looked grim, she stopped and turned her back to Mark and was now facing Derek. He slowly started to move toward the couple, worried Derek was going to blow up at her again.

Addison and Derek had just come from Beth Ryan's room; she was scheduled for surgery the following morning. She had just cleared her so Derek could operate. As the discussion came to an end, Addie realized it was now or never. She abruptly stopped and faced Derek, stopping him in his tracks. "Derek," she began, "There is something I need to tell you, before . . ." she hesitated trying to make the words come. He looked at her expectantly and she inhaled and slowly let out a breath, "This isn't easy, just give me a minute."

Derek could see Mark slowly heading their way, "Come on Addison, spit it out I have other patients to see."

As Mark approached he could hear their conversation, Addie was clearly trying to tell Derek something and he was getting impatient.

"Okay, okay," she closed her eyes and began again, "I . . . I thought I should know let you know, before the gossip made the rounds that I am pregnant." There she said it, now to wait for his reaction. It wasn't at all what she had expected.

She could feel Mark wrap his arm around her waist and then he whispered in her ear, "I guess we have a few things to discuss."

He raised his eyebrows, a smile quickly spread across his face and he looked from Addison to Mark, "Well, I guess I owe you guys my congratulations." He reached out to Mark and shook his hand "Congratulations, I'm sure you will both make wonderful parents. Now if you will excuse me, I have patients to see." He turned and headed to the elevator.

Derek entered the elevator and as soon as the doors closed the fake smile turned into a frown. He didn't know what to think. Addison pregnant, it was something they had wanted for a longtime but then their problems started and everything was put on hold. He couldn't believe that now that they were divorced, now that there was no chance for them, she was pregnant. He leaned against the wall of the elevator. He saw the look of shock on her face when he smiled and congratulated them. He had to do that because he didn't want to admit the truth. It was way too hard to digest, because if the baby was his he had destroyed any chance they had to make their marriage work. The idea that they now might have created a child together, he slammed his fist against the wall, no it was easier to say that Mark was the child's father. They were together now, he had seen with his own eyes how close they had gotten. He knew all too well what that look in her eyes meant. This was something he just didn't want to deal with.

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Mark took a stunned Addison back to her office; he guided her to the couch and gently pushed her down to take a seat. He gathered both her hands in his and looked at her. He had a million questions that he wasn't really sure if he wanted to hear the answers to. "Are you okay?" he looked into her eyes, trying to gauge what she was feeling.

"I . . . don't know." She gave him a weak smile then said, "Surprise?" She raised her eyebrows and tried to smile but it wasn't working, he could see the tears starting for form in her eyes.

He pulling into his arms and started to rub her back. "Hey," he whispered, "That's one hell of a surprise." He pushed her back so he could see her face. He reached up and brushed a tear away with his thumb then smiled at her, a smile that went all the way to his eyes. "You know what?" he asked gently. She shook her head, "You are going to make one hell of a mother." The tears started to roll faster and he pulled her back into his arms.

After she calmed down, he brought her back to her hotel suite. As they approached the door, they saw Madeline standing at the door readying to knock. She turned and saw her daughter and ran to her and pulled her into her arms. Addison instantly burst into tears and Madeline looked up at Mark with concern. He quickly opened the door to her room and Madeline guided her daughter to the couch. While Madeline comforted Addie, he made a call to room service and ordered something for them to eat. He looked over his shoulder at the two women, Addie was sitting back on the couch, she was drying her eyes, she had stopped crying.

Mark walked back over to the couch, "I ordered something from room service for dinner."

"Thank you Mark," said with a nod Madeline.

"I'm not hungry," Addie said.

Both Mark and Madeline looked at her reproachfully and said, "You have to eat."

"Fine, fine, I'll eat something," she gave up.

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Cristina, Meredith and George were sitting in a corner booth at Joe's they were waiting on their dates. Meredith tried not to pay attention to Derek; he sat at his usual seat at Joe's and was nursing his usual scotch. He seemed more depressed then usual, but there was no way she was going to find out why. She looked up as the door opened and saw Burke enter. He waved to them, but took a detour when he saw Derek at the bar.

"Hey Shepherd, what brings you here?" Derek raised his glass.

"How's the physical therapy going?" Derek inquired.

Burke opened and closed his hand, "It's getting better."

Derek finished his drink and stared straight ahead, "Addison is pregnant."

Burke's eyes widened, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah she told me today," he said evenly.

"And . . .?"

"I congratulated her and told her she and Mark will make wonderful parents," he motioned Joe for another drink.

"You just automatically assumed it was Mark's?" Burke closed his eye and shook his head, "You really are an idiot."

"I know," he said and he picked up his drink.

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"Thanks Mark. You made an excellent choice," she grinned at him. "I guess I was wrong, I really was hungry," as she looked down at her empty plate. "But now I am exhausted, I think I will turn in." She rose from the table, walked over to Mark's side and gave him a hug, "Thanks again."

Madeline rose from the table as well, and followed Addie into her room. She sat on Addie's bed and waited while her finished up in the bathroom. Addison returned fifteen minutes later, her face freshly scrubbed, teeth brushed and wearing a pair of dark green plaid flannel pajama bottoms and a dark green over sized t-shirt. She sat down on the bed and looked at her mother. "He congratulated me and said Mark and I will make wonderful parents," she closed her eyes and tried to keep her emotions in check.

She rose from the bed and started to pace. "Oh god mom, I don't know what to do."

"Well, I guess the first question is," she looked up at her and gave her a reassuring smile, "Do you want to have this baby?"

She stopped her pacing and kneeled by her mother's side and put her head in her lap, Madeline started to stroke her long wavy red hair. "Yes," she managed to squeak out.

She pulled Addie up to her side and put her arm around her, "There the hardest decision is made then." She looked into her daughter's blue green eyes and saw the turmoil in them and smiled, "So, I'm going to be a grandma again."

She gave her mother an anxious look and nodded, "Yes . . . you are." A small smile appeared on her face, "I might not be happy about how this came about, but now that I've had some time to adjust to the idea, I really am happy about having a baby."

"I knew you would be, once you got over the shock." She had her lay down in bed and she pulled the covers up over her. "So I guess we have a lot to talk about," said as she curled up next to her daughter and continued to stroke her hair.

"Mom?" she asked.

"Yes sweetie?"

"Thanks for coming. I really did need you here," she gave her mother a little smile.

"No thanks needed dear. I will always come when you need me," she tilted her head and smiled down at her daughter. "You just need to let me know when you are in trouble and I'll be here."

They continued to talk about the baby and how it was going to change her life.

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She closed the door to Addie's bedroom and walked over to Mark, he was staring out the window at the city skyline. "Mark?"

He turned to her voice, "Is she a sleep?"

Madeline nodded.

"Oh god Madeline, I don't know what to do. I love her so much," the distress in his voice was evident.

"Mark, you know under these circumstances you can not pursue a relationship with my daughter," she said firmly.

He looked at her questioning, urging her to go on.

"You know as well as I do that she is not completely over Derek, and if you push the relationship now, you both will be hurt in the end." She reached out and touched his cheek, "I know how devastated you were when she left you before, I warned you back then." He tried to protest but he knew she was right. "She is carrying _his_ child," she looked at him sympathetically, "And I'm not saying that she will choose him but if he decides he wants her back." She sighed, "And he fights to get her back, there is a distinct possibility that she will go back to him."

He whispered, "I know." The devastation of her words echoed in his head.

"Do you remember what I told you before?" she narrowed her eyes.

"And I didn't listen. Instead of being there for her, supporting her when she needed a friend, I took advantage of her. I was an idiot, I truly thought after Derek left, she would divorce him and stay with me." He closed his eyes and remembered the kiss they shared at the airport, his heart started to ache. "I know better this time and I am not going to do anything that will hurt her," he continued, "I know she needs to figure this out on her own. And if she truly does love me now and not Derek, I need to have faith that she will realize this and choose me." He took a deep breath, "I told her before that no matter what I will be here for her, as her friend, even if she decides to go back to Derek." Madeline felt so bad for him; she reached out and pulled him into a hug.

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	9. Chapter 9

**Recovery**

**Part IX**

Meredith, Cristina, Alex and Callie sat on one side of the observation gallery, while Addison sat alone on the other side.

"Okay, I get why Callie is here observing a McDreamy operation since George is assisting, but why on earth are you observing a McDreamy operation?" Alex said to Meredith.

"Ugh, don't call him _that,_" she cringed. "I'm observing my patient being operated on, _not_ Derek," Meredith retorted. "I'm here because she's my patient."

Cristina said, "I can't believe that Dr. Montgomery is here observing too."

"That's because Mrs. Ryan is her patient too," Meredith replied.

"So if you aren't calling him McDreamy these days what are you calling him?"

"McJerky," Cristina quipped.

"McWussie," Meredith added.

"McDouchey," Alex smirked.

"McNightmare," Callie grinned.

They all laughed.

Addison could hear the interns whispered conversation; she tried to ignore them but couldn't help but smiled to herself at the new names for Derek, McDreamy my ass.

Derek looked up in the gallery and noticed Addison sitting up there, a small smile crossed his face, it had been a longtime since she observed one of his surgeries. He locked eyes with her but instead of smiling back, she turned her head. That was when he remembered why she was there. It wasn't to watch him work; it was because he was operating on one of her patients. He was surprised by how disappointed he felt when he realized this. He returned his focus to the patient before him.

Dr. Bailey entered the observation gallery, "I hope you are not neglecting any patients while you are in here observing." All the interns held up their pagers, she nodded at them, "Carry on then." She walked past them over to Addison and sat down next to her. She said in a low whisper looking at her with concern, "So how are you doing today, are you over the shock yet?"

Addie smiled over at her friend. "Yeah I'm finally over the shock," she slid back in her seat and blew out a long breath.

"And?" she looked on expectantly with raise eyebrows.

"Surprisingly, I'm good about it," a smiled appeared on her face that lit up her eyes, "Real good."

Mark entered the observation gallery, excused himself as he passed the group of interns and started to make his way over to Addison but Alex stopped him, "Dr. Sloan?"

"Yeah Karev?" Mark was looking at Addie while he talked to Alex. He smiled when he noticed how happy she looked while talking to Miranda.

"Do you think there's a chance I can get in on the Borden case?" he asked hopefully.

Mark still wasn't taking his eyes off Addie; it was nice seeing her smiling today. He tilted his head and smiled at her, she was definitely glowing today. What a relief to see that smile after the shock she received yesterday. Madeline's visit must have really helped her put things into perspective. "Sure Karev let Dr. Bailey know I said it was okay. It's schedule for Friday morning, nine a.m. sharp. Now if you will excuse me." He continued on to Addie's side, he took the unoccupied seat next to Addie. All the interns' eyes were on him as he sat down next to Dr. Montgomery. He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek and asked, "How are you feeling today?"

"Good, really good," she smiled up at him. "So how long until you leave for your closing?"

"I need to be out of here in thirty minutes. I was thinking we could go out to dinner tonight and celebrate."

"The closing?" she raised her eyebrows in question.

"The closing and . . ." he reached over and placed his hand on her tummy, gave it a gentle rub, the action made her stomach do flip flops.

"That would be lovely, except you do remember that my mother is still here in town."

"Of course I figured Madeline would join us," his smile reached his eyes; she knew how much he liked her mother. "How does seven sound?"

"Perfect, I'm having lunch with my mom, I'm sure she will be happy to join us."

He reached inside his lab coat pocket and pulled out a ziploc bag of orange slices and passed them over to her. "I figured you haven't eaten anything since your morning surgery."

Miranda looked past Addie's shoulder to Mark shaking her head, "Oh you did not just do that."

Addie tilted her head and looked at him, "Aw that's so sweet and you're right I came straight from my patient to here."

Cristina and Meredith sat in the corner observing Addison and Mark instead of the surgery down below. "Something is different," Cristina whispered to Meredith, "I can't put my finger on it."

"I don't know she has been acting weird ever since I talked to her yesterday about Derek," she whispered back.

"About Derek? What did you say about Derek?" whispered curiously.

"Just that I was relieved that I didn't have to deal with any further unexpected consequences, because I had gotten my period she has been acting weird ever since," she shrugged.

"You don't think . . ." Cristina started to ask. But a commotion started across the room. They watched opened mouthed as Addison opened the ziploc bag with the orange slices and her smile disappeared and she visibly paled as the aroma of the oranges hit her. It brought on a sudden wave of nausea. She shot to her feet dropping the bag at her feet and sprinted for the door.

Miranda looked over at Mark who sat there opened mouthed staring at the rapidly departing Addison and then smacked him on the back of the head. "Don't you know anything? You were supposed to bring crackers, crackers are benign oranges are evil." She shook her head and added with a sigh, "You have so much to learn." Mark sat back in his chair looking guilty.

The interns continued to stared open mouthed at Addison's retreating form as she left the observation gallery.

Meredith slipped out of her seat to follow Addison. She saw her rush into the ladies room, she followed her in. She stood at the door for a moment watching Addison grabbing on the toilet as she started to retch. Meredith grabbed some paper towels then moved to her side and held her hair out of her face. Addison eventually pushed away from the toilet and took the paper towels that Meredith offered her. Meredith took a moment to study her before commenting.

"So how far along?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

"Seven weeks," Addison replied weakly.

"Did you know yesterday when we talked?" she shook her head indicating no. "Does Derek know?"

"Yes," she then gave her another weak smile.

"How did her react?" she said with concern.

"You know this is a little weird," she started to gnaw on her bottom lip.

"I know, so . . .?" she urged her to answer.

"He's in denial."

"Denial?"

"He chooses to believe that Mark is the father," she shrugged.

"Oh god Addison I am so sorry," she continued, "I guess I was wrong when I said there was going to be no further consequences from my actions." She started to shake her head, "This is my fault."

Addison looked at the anguished woman sitting before her. "I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm pretty sure you had absolutely nothing to do with the conception of my child," she smirked at her.

Meredith started at her opened mouthed. Addison pulled herself into the standing position and went to the sink and rinsed her mouth out. Meredith followed and stood behind her, she looked up at Meredith in the mirror who continued to stare at her with her mouth hanging open. "Look when I first figured out I was pregnant, I pretty much freaked out but now that I've had time to get over the initial shock. I'm actually pretty happy about being pregnant." She turned to face Meredith and smiled at her. "Now close your mouth, it's not one of your more attractive looks," she smirked again then exited the ladies room.

Mark was standing outside the ladies room when she exited. "I am _so_ sorry," he said with remorse. "Are you okay?" he reached over and brushed some loose strands of red hair behind her ear.

She smiled at him reaching up to caress his cheek, "Really I'm fine that is to be expected." Her smiled widened, "And now we know oranges are evil." She grinned at him and they both laughed.

He pulled her into a hug, gave her a kiss on the top of her head and said, "I really have to get going or I'm going to be late for my closing. Are you sure you are going to be okay?" he asked with concern.

She pulled back a little and looked up at him. "Go," she smiled up at him. "You don't want to be late and yes I will be just fine," she kissed his cheek and gave him a little nudge to leave. He left begrudgingly; she leaned against the wall and watched his progression down the hall with a smile.

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The interns were gathered at the nurse's station when Madeline Montgomery entered Seattle Grace. She took in her surrounds, not quite the action of New York but it was nice and she gave a slight nod, very nice. She looked toward the nurse's station and saw a group of what she thought were most likely interns, she stopped and studied the four young doctors trying to guess which one was Meredith Grey. She decided it must be the petite blonde. She headed for the group and stopped in front of them. She looked directly at the woman she thought to be Meredith Grey and asked, "Could you please direct me as to where I might find Dr. Montgomery?" A looked of uneasiness passed her face, Madeline gave a small satisfied nod, she was sure this was the woman in question. Meredith directed her to where Addison's office could be found. She smiled at the younger woman and said, "Thank you Dr. Grey. I appreciate your help." Then moved off to the elevator.

The interns exchanged looks. "Do you know her?" George asked.

"No," Meredith was puzzled. "I've never seen her before in my life."

"She probably read your name tag," Cristina stated simply.

"Except she is in her scrubs and her named tag isn't showing," Alex added.

"Okay that's just weird," Meredith said again.

As Madeline waited for the elevator Derek stepped up beside her. He did a double take when he recognized her, "Madeline?"

She startled at hearing her ex-son-in-law's voice, but regained her composure quickly. "Derek," she maintained a steady gaze on the elevator doors.

"What brings you here?" he quietly asked.

She turned and looked at him slightly disgusted, "Oh seriously Derek, do you really need to ask me _that_ question?"

Derek took a defensive stance. "Look Madeline I never wanted to hurt Addison"

She crossed her arms and continued to angrily stare him down. "Right you didn't want to hurt her because it was just so damn much fun for her having _you_ take her back only to have you ignore her wants and needs once again and chase after _that_ intern Meredith Grey!" she spat back at him.

"I . . . I . . ." Derek tried to answer back, but she interrupted him.

"And now this," she poked his chest. "You really are a miserable bastard Derek Shepherd."

The interns watched the exchange between the mystery woman and Dr. Shepherd. She definitely seemed to know him and was very angry with him for some unknown reason. The interns were too far away to make out what she was saying it him. But when she slapped Derek across the face, the sound of the slap did reach the interns. Alex winced, "Oh that had to hurt." The doors to the elevator slid open and Madeline stormed in to the empty elevator. Derek seemed to decide it was better idea to wait for the next elevator to arrive.

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Madeline stood at the door to Addison's office for a moment to regain her composure. Of course she should have expected she would run into her ex-son-in-law while she was here, she just didn't realize it would anger her so much. She put a smile on her face and entered her daughter's office and called out, "Hey sweetie, are you ready to go get some lunch?"

Addie looked up from her desk; she stood and walked around the desk her arms reaching out to give her mother a hug. "Yes, I just cleared my schedule for the rest of the day so I'm all yours," she smiled at her mother and gave her a hug.

Ten minutes later they were exiting the elevator and heading past the group of interns. They were so deep in conversation talking animatedly and laughing neither one noticed the interns staring open mouthed as they exited the hospital.

"So," George said.

"So the doctor smacking grandma is friends with Dr. Montgomery," Alex smirked.

"That has to be Addison's mother," Meredith said uncomfortably, knowing now exactly why the woman had asked _her_ directions to Addison's office.

"You think?" Cristina looked over at her.

"Oh yeah, definitely her mother," Meredith nodded.

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After lunch Addison decided to take Madeline to see the house she was considering buying. As they entered the house the first thing you noticed was the Brazilian Cherry hardwood floors which ran through out the main floor. To the right stood the study lined with built in cherry wood bookcases and to the left was the formal dining room which had wainscot and crown molding, both in cherry wood. As they walked along the hardwood floors, they came to the gourmet kitchen with granite counter tops and cherry wood cabinets and a breakfast nook which was connected to the great room. The great room had a vaulted ceiling and floor to ceiling windows with a wonderful view of Lake Washington. As they walked from room to room, Addie pointing out different things about the house that she had fallen in love with along the way. They entered the master bedroom; she walked across the plush cream carpet over to the window. "Just look at that view," she smiled.

"It's amazing," she smiled at her daughter. "Okay I give, tell me one good reason why haven't you signed a contract yet?"

"Because I thought a five bedroom house was too big?" she shrugged.

"And what do you think now?"

"I think it's perfect," she grinned.

Madeline nodded at her daughter as a smile grew on her face and she said, "Perfect."

Both turned their heads to the sound of someone yelling "Hello" from downstairs. They retraced steps back to the gourmet kitchen where the realtor was waiting for them. "So what do you think?" the realtor inquired.

"It's a lovely house Ms. Parker . . ." Madeline began. She reached out to shake hands with the realtor, with a confidant smile on her face.

Two hours later Addison and Madeline were standing at the door to Mark's new penthouse apartment. He opened the door to their smiling faces. "We have one more thing to celebrate tonight," Addie said excitedly, "I bought a house."

"You did?" He motioned for them to come in, "That's great news!"

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	10. Chapter 10

**Recovery**

**Part X**

Addison walked down Fourth Avenue, it was a gorgeous summer day the sun was shining and light breeze skimmed across her face, it was a comfortable seventy eight degrees. When the sun shone the cities gray hues were replaced with the glittering green hues of vegetation that was in abundance in the city, it was one of those days where she understood why it was nicknamed the _Emerald City_. She had a doctor's appointment later that day so she had taken the day off and was doing a little shopping that morning so she could put the finishing touches on her new home before her niece arrived. The house was almost put together to her liking; she had asked Savy to make arrangements for her furniture in her New York Brownstone to be shipped across country. She used the majority of the furniture from her home in New York, but she had asked Savy to donate the Master Bedroom furniture to charity, it held too many memories that she just didn't want to deal with. She had also asked Savy to arrange to have the Brownstone put up for sale. Being in her new home had finally made her realize that Seattle now was her home not New York. For the first time since arriving in Seattle she no longer considered New York her home.

Her mother, Madeline had stayed for two weeks, but since everything was going so smoothly she had decided it was time for her to get back to Addie's father, he was starting to grumble about her absence.

She couldn't believe five weeks had passed since discovering she was pregnant. She had an appointment scheduled for later that afternoon, they were going to perform an ultrasound, which was routine for women over the age of thirty five. She was a little anxious about the appointment, the ultrasound will make everything that much more real. It was really too early in the pregnancy to really feel any movement yet and it had been too early last month to hear the heartbeat. This was the checkup that would make it a reality, make it truly hit home that she was indeed going to be a mother. She gently rested her hand on her lower abdomen, she wasn't showing yet but she smiled to herself it wouldn't be long now.

She stopped walking as a bakery sign caught her eye. She stood in front of the bakery eyeing the pastries in the window it had been over two hours since she last ate and her stomach started to growl. Now that her morning sickness had all but passed; she was finding herself hungry more often. She was pretty lucky her morning sickness wasn't very bad, all she needed to do was avoid a few trigger foods and smells and she was fine. She entered the bakery looking down at the case asking for a chocolate with cream cheese muffin, a glass of milk and a glass of ice.

The woman behind the counter was startled to see someone she knew enter the bakery. She looked at her questioningly, "A glass of ice?"

Addison's head snapped up when she recognized the voice. "Izzie?" she tried getting over the shock of seeing Isobel Stevens working in a bakery, but just couldn't manage it. "What on earth are you doing working in a bakery?"

Izzie pulled a muffin from the tray and put in on a plate, then poured a glass of milk. She shrugged as she filled another glass with ice, "Well, I have to work somewhere and I've always loved baking." She smiled at Addie and said, "That will be $3.26."

"Izzie you do realize that Dr. Webber was not going to fire you." She looked at her with sympathy, "Of course there would have been repercussions." She handed Izzie a five dollar bill as she continued, "But there was no reason to throw away your entire career."

Izzie made change and handed it back to her and pursed her lips. "At the time it was the only thing I could do. I didn't feel I had the right to be a surgeon anymore after . . ." she hesitated, "After what happened with Denny."

"And now?" she questioned her with concern.

"God I miss it. I never would have imagined I would miss it so much." She sighed, "Dr. Webber will never allow me back in the program now though." Izzie smiled at Addie and said brightly, "Why don't you have a seat, I'll bring your order to your table," she gestured to the tables. "I'm actually due for a break and I'd like to hear what's been happening since I've been gone."

Addie gathered her bags and headed for a table in the corner, "Haven't George and Meredith been keeping you posted?"

Izzie set the tray down on the table; she had added a muffin and a cup of coffee for herself. "In the beginning I refused to allow them to mention the hospital, so . . ." She watched opened mouthed as Addie poured her milk into the glass of ice.

Addie noticed her abrupt halt of conversation. "What?" she looked up to Izzie staring at her opened mouthed. She blushed and shyly said with a shrug, "I can't help it I've been craving ice cold milk and it never seems to be cold enough."

Izzie's eyes narrowed, "Craving?" Addison nodded and Izzie's jaw dropped again, "Are you?"

Addison nodded again and with a smile said, "Twelve weeks."

"Twelve weeks, I . . . I thought you and Dr. Shepherd were divorced," she asked exasperated.

"We are." She gave her a weak smile, "That's really not one of my favorite topics of conversation."

"So a baby," she looked at her with amazement, "Are you excited?"

"Very," she grinned back at Izzie her eyes lighting up. "Now let's get back to you."

Izzie collapsed back into her chair and frowned, "I don't know what to do. I want my life as a doctor back."

"So we need to fix this." The wheels started to turn in her head, she didn't know if Richard would agree, but it was worth a shot. "What would you say if I extended the offer to be your mentor again, and have you put on my service?" She reached out and patted her hand, "Of course I can't make any promises yet, I need to speak with Richard first."

Izzie's eyes lit up, this was the first time since Denny that she was actually excited about something. "Seriously? You would really talk to Dr. Webber about allowing me back in the program, about allowing me to work with you?"

Addison smiled at the excited girl before her, "Well I have to convince Dr. Webber first, but if he agrees I am absolutely serious."

Izzie shot up from the chair and quickly moved to Addison's side and hugged her. "Thank you, thank you I . . . I," she paused and excitedly said, "Thank you, you don't have any idea how much this means to me."

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Addison sat on the exam table, her doctor Dr. Sara Williams talked to her as she looked over the nurse's notes, "Excellent, your blood pressure is one twenty over eighty. So how is the morning sickness?" Sara continued with her physical exam.

"Getting better, I haven't gotten sick for three days."

"That's great, ok lets see if we can find the heartbeat," she smiled down at Addison and pulled out the stethoscope with a speaker on it. She move it around her tummy listening as she went until the distinct sounds of a heartbeat could be heard. The doctor was quiet a moment while she counted. "One hundred fifty four that's a nice strong heartbeat," she smiled down at Addie.

She couldn't believe how emotional she was getting. She had heard hundreds of thousands fetal heartbeats before, but this one was different. There it was it was a reality, now she could feel the tears starting to slide down her cheeks.

Sara looked down on her smiling and holding out a tissue, "Pretty overwhelming when it's your own, huh?" Addie nodded at her drying her eyes. "Okay I'm going to send Michelle in for the ultrasound now. You lay back and relax for a little bit," she patted Addie on the arm then exited the room.

Michelle entered the room shortly after Dr. Williams; she was wheeling in the ultrasound machine. "Good afternoon Dr. Montgomery, are you ready for your ultrasound?" Addie nodded. "Okay just lay back," she pulled up her shirt to expose her tummy then moved her pants exposing her stomach completely. "Okay I'm sure you know this already but the gel is going to be cold," she squirted gel on her stomach. It gave Addie a little shiver as she started to move the wand across her stomach almost, immediately the baby's heart beat could be heard over the speaker and a picture appeared on the screen, you could see two tiny feet pushing against the screen. Addie swallowed then smiled. Michelle continued the move the wand around getting different angles, Addie continued to watch in awe, one moment you could see the baby's heart beating, its spine. Then back to its head, she was mesmerized. Finally Michelle put the wand down and started wiping her stomach with a tissue. She smiled down at her and asked, "Do you want me to make a copy on a dvd for you?"

Addie nodded her head and said, "Please."

"Great I'll send it up to your office. Dr. Williams should be back in shortly," Michelle left the room wheeling the ultrasound machine out with her. Addie lay there waiting for Sara to return, her mind was racing. Even though she had seen millions of ultrasounds they never had affected her so much. Oh my god thought it is real, she gently rested her hand on her stomach.

Dr. Williams reentered the exam room and held out her hand to help her into a sitting potion. "I looked over the ultrasound everything looks wonderful. I do not foresee any complications at this point. Of course in the fifth month we are going to want to do an amnio just as a precaution. That's it for this week; make an appointment with Barb on your way out for next month. Before you leave do you have any other questions?"

Addie smiled at Sara. "No questions I'm pretty sure I know what to be expecting at this point. Thank you Sara," she grinned at her doctor.

Sara grinned back, "Yeah I figured as much, I'll see back here in a month then." They shook hands and Sara exited the room.

Addison exited shortly after and made an appointment for next month.

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Derek knew Addison was going for a check up today; he waited until she was gone before finding the ultrasound tech. "Michelle," he smiled at her.

"Oh hi Dr. Shepherd is there something I can do for you?" she asked with a smile.

"Yeah Addison told me she was getting her ultrasound done today. I had a surgery schedule so I wasn't able to make the appointment, did she remember to ask you to make a copy for me?" Of course she had not told him about the appointment; he figured it out on his own.

"Oh she must have forgotten I did make her a copy just give me a minute and I'll make one for you too, if you like."

He smiled and nodded, "Thank you Michelle I'd really appreciate it."

He waited by the nurse's station trying to look busy, five minutes later Michelle returned with his copy. "Here you go Dr. Shepherd, you and Dr. Montgomery must be really excited. It's too bad you had surgery, I know Dr. Montgomery was pretty thrilled at seeing the ultrasound."

"Thank you Michelle I have to go check on a patient now. I'll see you around." DVD in hand Derek made a hasty retreat to his office.

In less then five minute he was seated behind his desk at his computer he opened the tray and dropped the disk in the tray and closed it. He clicked on play and sat mesmerized by the display. He reached out and touched the screen he had never seen anything so amazing in his life. It was finally starting to sink in; he was going to be a father.

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"Absolutely not!" Richard shouted he could not believe she was asking him to allow Isobel Stevens back in the program. "Why on earth would you want to have Isobel Stevens on your service?" he was fuming.

"Please Richard I know what she did was wrong and I fully understand where you are coming from but," she gnawed on her lower lip, "but I feel somewhat responsible for what happened."

Richard's mouth dropped open he wasn't expecting that, "Why on earth would you feel responsible?"

"Because I failed her," she said sincerely. "I tried to teach her the lesson, you and I both knew she got too close to her patients and I failed." She continued, "I feel like this whole mess is partly my responsibility. If I had done a better job this entire mess with Denny Duquette might never have happened."

Richard sat back in his chair steepled his fingers in front of him and studied the woman before him. If she thought she had failed Stevens then in some respect he must have failed her too. He had always had so much respect for Addison; she was probably his most favorite student he ever had, she was one person he always had a soft spot for. It was true that at times Isobel Stevens had in passing reminded him of Addison, but she had blown any chance for a real medical career. Hadn't she? He continued studying Addie; he knew how strongly she felt about Isobel, that she had wanted her on her service from the beginning. He had a number of questions though, had Stevens learned a lesson? Would she be at risk to do anything so phenomenally stupid again? Was she worth the risk? Obviously Addison thought she was worth that risk. His eyes narrow as he looked at Addison she looked up at him expectantly. "Okay," he said grumpily.

"Okay?" she said in amazed shock.

"Put her on your service," he said sternly. "BUT," he pointed his finger at her. "She is your responsibility; it is your ass on the line if she screws up again. Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes," she jumped from her seat hurried around the desk and hugged him. "Thank you, thank you Richard you are not going to regret this. I promise you."

"Have her call Patricia and set up an appointment with me tomorrow. I will discuss the terms of her internship and see if she is agreeable." He furrowed his brow, "Now get out of here before I change my mind."

She quickly stood up and headed for the door she paused before exiting. "Thank you Richard," she smiled and quickly left his office.

Richard put his elbows on his desk and put his head into his hands and shook his head. I sure hope she knows what she is doing he thought.

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"Are you serious?" Miranda stood in stunned shock before Addie. "You actually talked the chief into allowing Stevens on your service?" She shook her head, "I can not believe what I am hearing."

"Indeed I did," she nodded back at Miranda. "And I'm going to need your help. She is going to need you to be at your full fledge nazi best." She grinned at her, "Think you can manage that?"

"Oh you better believe I can manage that," she nodded at Addie a smile starting to form on her face. "It will be my pleasure to show that girl what the wrath of the nazi is truly like," she gave Addie a wicked grin.

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Addison sat in her office hand on the phone ready to call Izzie with the news. She picked up the phone and dialed leaning back in her chair waiting for Izzie to pick up.

"Hello," Izzie answered her phone.

"Izzie its Dr. Montgomery"

"Hi Dr. Montgomery," she said tentatively.

"Well it's done, I talked to the chief," she said with no emotion, wanting to hang on to the news for just a little longer.

"And?" Addie could hear the nervousness in her voice.

"From now on you are at my beckon call," she grinned into the phone.

"Seriously?" she couldn't contain her excitement.

"Seriously," she said with a nod. "Dr. Webber wants you to call his office and set up a meeting for tomorrow morning to go over the ground rules for your reinstatement."

"Oh my god Addison," she said excitedly. "I don't know how I am _ever _going to thank you," she squealed.

"You can thank me by becoming one of the best god damn neonatal doctors in the country, and by never pulling anything remotely like you did with Denny," she said firmly. "Because Izzie I'm laying my ass on the line for you, don't make me regret it."

"I promise I will not let you down." And she added, "Addison thank you for believing in me."

"You're welcome Izzie. I have to go now, but I'll see you tomorrow." She said with a more relaxed tone, "Now go celebrate, but not too much."

Izzie hung up the phone; she couldn't believe this was happening. She was going to get a second chance. She picked the receiver back up and quickly dialed the number to the hospital and asked to be connected with Dr. Webber's assistant. It only took a moment to schedule her appointment for nine a.m. the next morning. Now that her future seemed to be on the right track, there was only one thing to do; a smile appeared on her face as she thought.

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Addison walked up to the nurse's station and asked, "Is Dr. Sloan in with a patient?"

Mary nodded. "Yes he should be finishing up shortly." She tilted her head and asked, "I thought you had the day off?"

"I did," she smiled back, "But I had an afternoon appointment and then I had some urgent business to discuss with the chief."

"Oh?" Mary said with a raised brow.

"Yes," she said smiling back, "and it's a secret for now." She raised her finger to her lips and said, "Shhh everyone will find out soon enough."

Just then Mark exited his office following a young dark haired boy and a woman with dark curly hair who must have been his mother, his eyes lit up when he saw Addison standing by the desk. He turned to the woman shook her hand and said, "We will get started on Michael's treatment immediately. I've set up the first treatment for Friday at nine a.m.," he said as he handed her an appointment card.

"Thank you Dr. Sloan," she said taking the appointment card.

He nodded and said, "You're welcome." Then bend down to high five the young boy who appeared to be about six, he had a large red birthmark on the side of his face, "See you on Friday Mike."

The boy grinned up at him and said, "Yep see you on Friday Dr. Mark."

Mark turned and saw Addison leaning against the nurse's station desk and smiled, "Hey how did your appointment go, you had an ultrasound right?" he leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Everything is wonderful. I'm still a bit overwhelmed about the ultrasound; Michelle gave me a copy I'll show you later tonight. But right now I thought I'd try to interest you in some dinner. I have this uncontrollable craving for Mexican tonight. I really, really want some chicken enchiladas," she grinned at him.

He leaned back and looked her up and down narrowing his eyes and asked, "Are you sure your stomach is up for Mexican? Don't get me wrong I'm always happy to hold your hair back while you get sick, but you know I'd rather not tempt the fates," he grinned at her.

She lightly smacked his shoulder. "Oh stop it, I haven't been sick for three days and besides I really don't care I have to _have_ chicken enchiladas."

"Ok Mexican it is," he grinned back at her. "Do you want to eat out or get delivery?"

"Delivery, your place or mine?"

"How about your place, since I really don't feel like cleaning up if you get sick," he smirked at her.

"Oh my god," her eyes widened she slugged him kind of hard on the shoulder. "Stop it," she feigned offence.

They both laughed as he wrapped his arm around her and said, "Come on lets get out of here."

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Meredith, Cristina, Alex, George and Callie entered the house they were on a mission to get Izzie to go out with them tonight. As they entered their senses were assaulted by the aromas of baked goods. They looked at each other and thought oh no; they had thought she was getting better.

"Uh oh," Alex said.

Callie looked confused, "What's with your house smelling like Betty Crocker exploded here?"

"Oh man, not again," said Cristina.

"Izzie," George called he entered the kitchen followed by the rest of the group; they all stopped at the door. The counters were piled high with an assortment of bake goods cookies, cakes, brownies, muffins. The blonde Betty Crocker had struck again.

"Are you okay? Did something happen?" Meredith asked worriedly.

"Every thing is fantastic!" Izzie squealed clutching her hands to her chest. "You will never guess what happened today!"

"Umm," the said in unison.

"I start back at the hospital tomorrow!" she exclaimed excitedly as she started to bounce up and down.

All their mouths hung open; they stared at Izzie looking stunned.

"Seriously?" Cristina managed to get out.

"Seriously," Izzie smiled back.

"How . . . how did that happen?" George asked.

"Addison," she smiled at them.

"Addison?" Meredith said puzzled.

"Yep, Addison Montgomery talked to Dr. Webber about getting me on her service," she said with a nod.

"Oh my god, when did that happen?" Cristina said still looking shocked.

"Why would Addison talk the Chief into letting you on her service?" Alex asked.

"She came into the bakery this morning," she smiled. "We got to talking about what's going on," she changed her train of thought, "Oh my god I can't believe she is pregnant with McDreamy's kid and they are divorced."

"Montgomery is pregnant?" Alex asked shocked, all the rest were in shock as well, but for Meredith who already knew.

Izzie nodded, "Yeah 12 weeks."

"Wow I didn't know that," George shook his head in surprise.

Meredith wanted to get Izzie to focus on the facts again so they could find out how Izzie managed to get accepted back into the program, "So why did Addison get you on her service?"

"Because I told her how much I missed being a doctor. So she told me she would talk to Dr. Webber and she did!" She beamed at them all, "Isn't that great?"

"Oh my god that is great," they all huddled around fighting for hugs.

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	11. Chapter 11

**Recovery**

**Part XI**

Izzie had left Dr. Webber's office with a smile on her face. He was stern with her and up front, he told her straight out that it went against his better judgment to allow her back in the program, but Dr. Montgomery had gone to bat for her and she had better not let that woman down. Izzie had no intention of letting Addison down; she was going to prove to everyone that she did indeed deserve to be a surgeon. Dr. Webber told her to report directly to Dr. Montgomery when he left the office.

She had a big smile on her face as she approached her mentor. "Dr. Montgomery I just finished my meeting with Dr. Webber and from now on I am at your disposal, do with me whatever you wish."

"Glad to have you back on board Stevens," she reached out and shook the younger woman's hand. "Since you've been out of the loop for over two months I am going to have you report to Dr. Bailey until she tells me you are back on track and ready to handle a rotation with me."

"You want me to go report to Dr. Bailey?" her smile wavered.

Addie nodded. "Yes, she is waiting for you in the pit." She smiled at the young intern, "So you better get a move on; you know she does not like to be kept waiting."

"Yes," she said tentatively. "Thank you again for this opportunity Dr. Montgomery, I promise I won't let you down."

She nodded to her again, "I'm sure you won't. I'll talk to you later." With that Dr. Montgomery headed down the hall, Izzie stood a moment and studied the statuesque redhead as she made her way down the hall. She definitely must be trying to teach her some new lesson if she was turning her over to the nazi on her.

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"Stevens!" Dr. Bailey shouted as Izzie exited the elevator. "What on earth took you so long to get down here? I was informed you left the chief's office over thirty minutes ago. You are not here to be a slacker, you are here to work." Izzie quickly ran to stand in front of Dr. Bailey. "If you do not plan on working hard young lady, you can turn right around and leave the building." Miranda stood in front of the tall blonde with her hands on her hips and with a scowl on her face staring her down.

Izzie tried to keep a straight face as Bailey put the smack down on her, but she was so happy to be back and so thrilled to have Bailey back in her face she couldn't help but smile.

"What on earth do you think you are smiling at? Wipe that smile off your face immediately!" she snapped. "I don't like seeing my interns smile. It means I haven't worked them hard enough." She pointed at a stack of charts, "See that stack of charts? Those are yours, now get to work," she barked.

"Yes Dr. Bailey, right away," Izzie hurried over and picked up the charts. She quickly looked through them, ugh four recitals, one abscess on the posterior of a fifty-seven year old female, a teen with an infected tong piercing and a thirty-five year old male who had been thrown threw a plate glass window. Oh boy, it sure was fun to be back at Seattle Grace. She blew a loose blonde hair out of her face and headed to the glass boy.

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"Addison," she heard Derek call her name and continued down the hall "Addison!" he shouted louder, she start to go faster and slipped into the elevator trying to hit the close button to no avail Derek managed to slip in the doors before they closed. "Addison I need to talk to you," he said out of breath.

"Do you have consult?" she asked briskly.

"No," he shook his head.

"Then I don't think we have anything to talk about," she said icily.

"I want to talk to you about the baby," he said quickly.

She closed her eyes clinched her teeth and closed her mouth tightly and counted to ten, then exhaled slowly, "As far as I'm concerned that topic is off limits to you."

"I have a right to be a part of my child's life," he shot back.

Her eyes snap to him and narrowed. "You're child? Funny I was under the impression that you considered Mark the father of my child. Did I miss something?" her voice remained cold.

Derek reached over and smacked the stop button on the elevator. "Look when you first told me you threw me for a loop," he sounded desperate. "I didn't know what the hell to say or how to react. Okay, I knew from the start that I was the father but. . ."

"So the thought of having a child with me is that repulsive?" she said dripping with sarcasm.

"No!" he threw his head back dragged his fingers through his hair and let out a groan. "Addison," he spun around in frustration. "I was afraid. I was afraid to admit the baby was mine because I screwed everything up so badly." She started to back away from him and leaned against the back wall of the elevator. He moved toward her, his gaze burned into her, he put one hand on either side of her on the wall and looked into her eyes, his eyes softened. "Addison I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that you are carrying my child. There is no one else in the world I would want to have a child with," he leaned in and lightly kissed her on the lips, she tried to pull away. He cupped her face and caressed her cheek then leaned in and tentatively kissed her again. This time he was rewarded with a response from her and he deepened the kiss then broke away his sharp blue eyes looked deep into her shining blue green eyes. "I love the idea that you are carrying my child," he whispered.

Tears welled up in her eyes then started to stream down her cheeks. "Derek, please," she shook her head and whispered, "Don't."

He backed away from her and turned then hit the start button of the elevator and softly said, "I want to be a part of my child's life."

She closed her eyes, pursed her lips tightly. She tried to regain her composure then wiped the tears from her eyes. "I have no right to keep you away from your child Derek," she replied quietly.

He let out a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you."

The doors to the elevator slid open and she bolted out the doors, leaving Derek to stand there watching her retreating figure.

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Addison spent the rest of the day trying to recover from her encounter with Derek. Luckily she had finished all her appointments before their encounter so she was able to go home early so she could retreat and try to figure out what the hell was going on with her emotions. How could she allow herself to be put back on that rollercoaster again? She had left a message with Mark's secretary letting him know she was tired and was going home early, so he wouldn't worry, he had already told her he would pick up something for dinner. They had already planned on spending the evening at her place.

She was sat on her patio watching the boats in the distance on Lake Washington trying to make sense of what had happened with Derek. She was angry with herself, how could she respond to him? How could she be so weak after he had treated her so badly?

She could hear Mark calling her; she rose from her seat, straightened and put a smile on her face as she entered the great room. She was going to do her best not to show Mark anything was wrong. "So what did you bring for dinner?" she asked cheerily.

"Let's see I picked up a rotisserie chicken, herb roasted potatoes and green bean. How does that sound?" he smiled and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "And for desert, I brought double chocolate ice cream."

Her eyes light up, "Sounds wonderful, I'm starved." She really wasn't hungry, but she would force herself to eat. She went to the cabinet and pulled out two plates, two glasses, silverware and napkins then brought them over to the table in the kitchen, she quickly set the table as Mark unloaded the bag of food. While she dished out the food onto each of their plate, he picked up the glasses and walked over to the refrigerator and filled them with ice. He filled her glass with milk and his glass with iced tea, then walked back to the table placed her milk in front of her then sat down. They both began to eat their dinner. "Thanks," she grinned at him, "This is wonderful."

They chatted about their day as they ate, keeping to the mundane happenings at the hospital. She tried to maintain a cheery façade, Mark watched her intently as she talked; he knew there was something troubling her so he decided to give her nudge to open up. "Okay something is bothering you, I can tell. So spill it," he reached over and gently held her hand and gave it a little squeeze in encouragement.

She sighed and leaned back in her seat, she looked at the table and seeing they both were clearly done with their meal she picked up their plates walked over to the sink, turned on the water and added some dish soap to the water, as she did so she carefully brought up the subject of Derek. "I talked to Derek today," she said evenly. She turned off the water before the bubbles could threaten to over flow the sink.

Mark looked over at her as he finished clearing the table and brought the dishes over for her to wash. He watched her carefully as he picked up a towel and started to dry the dishes and said, "What did he want?"

She bit the inside of her cheek and tentatively continued, "To talk about the baby."

He tried to hide his surprise, "And?"

"He told me he wants to be a part of his child's life," she replied trying not to show him how much it had freaked her out.

"And?" he replied quietly.

"I told him I had no right to keep him away from his child," she shrugged trying to act as it was no big deal, but it was.

"So Derek wants to be a part of your child's life?" he asked with a slow nod. "Well we always knew that was a possibility. How do you feel about this turn of events?" he asked with concern. He stopped what he was doing and looked at her, and tried to figure out what she was really feeling, since he knew she was trying to cover her true feelings.

"Honestly?" he nodded. "I don't have a clue how I feel about it," she sighed. "Do you mind if we table this discussion? I really just want to put it out of my mind for the time being," she asked hopefully.

He narrowed his eyes and nodded then reached over and pushed a lock of red hair behind her ear. "Sure," he knew she needed more time to adjust to this new situation. She had to try and figure out how she felt about Derek wanting to be a part of her child's life. He knew he needed to give her space and that was exactly what he would do.

"Thanks, I really don't know what I would do without you, you know that?" she beamed a smile up at him.

He smiled back his eyes lighting up as he studied her. As they were finishing up with the last of the dishes he wanted to trying and cheer her up. "Are you ready for some dessert?" he headed to the refrigerator to get the ice cream out.

She walked up to him and put her hand on the refrigerator to stop him from taking the ice cream out. She slipped her arms around his waist, looked up and smiled up at him, her smile turned into a wicked grin when she said to him, "I'm ready for dessert, but not ice cream." He swallowed as he looked into her eyes and her true meaning registered. She reached up to caress his cheek, then slipped her hand behind his neck and pulled him down into a kiss. It was a deep passionate kiss; his heart was aching and mind racing as the kiss continued their tongues dancing against each other. As the kiss slowed he started to come back to his senses and pulled back. He shook his head at her and whispered, "No, not like this."

Her blue green eyes looked up at him desperately pleading with him. "Please," she whispered hoarsely.

"Addie," he reached out and gently took her chin in his hand and guided her look to in his eyes. "There is nothing on earth that I would rather do then be with you but we can't." He was shook his head, "I can't be your escape from Derek again."

"It's not like that," she whimpered and looked away.

He gently put his hand on her shoulder and continued, "Addie you can't tell me it's not like that. Since I've come to Seattle we shared one amazing kiss, but for that one kiss our relationship has strictly been just two amazing friends. Honestly I still don't know what that kiss meant because we found out you were pregnant before it could go any further. I know there is a lot of pressure on you right now, how hard your split from Derek has been for you. You are carrying his child, and I know you still in some way are in love with him. That just doesn't go away because he stopped loving you."

She turned back to him tears started for fall down her cheeks and stood firmly in front of him. "I don't want to love him! I don't want to have feelings for him! I want them to stop!" she screamed. She started to sob uncontrollably.

He reached out and cupped her face caressing her cheek with his thumb, "Addie you can't make it stop by making love with me, we already tried that remember?" The back of his eyes started to sting, he leaned over and placed a firm kiss on her forehead. He could feel a tear slip down his cheek. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly to his body and let her cry.

"I love you Addie, but I can't do this, I just can't. I won't survive a second round. I won't survive a second round because I felt something this time that wasn't there last time. If we do this now, we will never have a chance to get it back, and that would destroy me."

She let out another sob and shook her head into his chest, "I . . . I'm sorry Mark, I don't want to hurt you. I'm so sorry, I. . ." She couldn't get another word out through her crying.

"Addie I know it will be hard, but you have to work this out with Derek," he kissed the top of her head again. "I know you are frightened, and I have no clue where Derek's head is at this moment." He tried to calm himself, he didn't want to tell her this, but he had to free her to make up her own mind. "There is a chance that Derek finally realized what he lost when he let you go. For all I know he wants you back, he wants to have you back so you can both raise this child together as a family." He bit the inside of his cheek trying to stem the tears from falling; this was the hardest conversation he ever had. Addison happiness meant everything to him, and if being with Derek and raising her child with him would make her happy, he had to accept it. He looked straight into her eyes, her tears still flowing freely. "I will support you if that is what you want. I meant it when I said I was your friend no matter what," he tried to smile.

She reached up and lightly touched his cheek with her fingers, "But I don't want to be in love with Derek, I want to be in love with you." A determined look fell across her face. "Mark I am in love with you."

He continued to smile down on her and very slightly shook his head, "Addie, can you look me in the eye and tell me you are not in love with Derek?"

She looked him straight in the eye and firmed herself, "Mark I love you and I. . ." she tried to say it looking him in the eye, but he was right, she couldn't look him in the eye and say she was not in love with Derek. She turned her head from him and started to cry again, then crumpled to the floor.

Mark reached down and scooped Addie up into his arms then carried her out on to the patio; there was a glider on the patio that could accommodate two. He carefully sat down settling Addie on his lap, cradled her in his arms and rocked her, she buried her face into his shoulder and continued to cry. Twenty minutes later her crying had subsided, he could feel her steady breathing she had fallen asleep in his arms. He held her tightly to his chest and carefully stood. He carried her back into the house upstairs to her bedroom, her covers where already folded back, so he gently placed her in bed, pulled off her shoes then pulled the blankets and comforter up over her. He stood over her watching her peaceful sleep; he leaned down and kissed her forehead one last time, then exited the room.

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**I hope you are enjoying my story, please let me know what you think**.


	12. Chapter 12

**Recovery **

**Part XII**

It had been a week since Addie embarrassed herself with Mark. He insisted there was no need for her to be embarrassed and as the week wore on they slowly managed to get back to their comfortable friendship.

Mark and Addie stood side by side leaning on the railing looking down at the pit; they were watching Isobel Stevens. Addison gave Mark a sideways glance and wrinkled her brow, "What are you doing?" As she watched him proceed to blow a spit ball at Izzie with the straw from his soda, he missed wide left that time. He grinned back at her and she said, "Oh you are just terrible," and gave him a little shove.

He blew another spit ball at Izzie and missed again. "Damn that was so close I almost hit her that time," he smirked at Addie then started to pout as he noticed her holding her hand out to him, looking none too happy.

"You really are pathetic, now hand it over," she said sending him an un-amused look. He held the straw out to her, she immediately snatched it away. He bowed his head looking down at the intern that was his intended target and started to apologize, but then heard a distinct whooshing sound and saw Steven wipe at the back of her neck. He looked over at Addie and she was grinning back. "Seriously Mark, if you are going to try and torment Stevens you really need better aim," she giggled at him.

She successfully hit Stevens four more times before they heard a distinctive clearing of a throat behind them. "Just what do you two think you are doing?" the chief said sternly behind them, they both quickly turned and faced him, Addie still holding the straw in her hand. The chief held out his hand looking reproachful at her, and she handed it over looking guilty. "I thought you liked Stevens and wanted her on your service, have you changed your mind about her abilities as a surgeon?" the chief asked in a commanding tone.

"I do like Stevens and I believe in my heart she is going to make an amazing surgeon," Addie sincerely replied.

"Then why sic the nazi on her?" he questioned her.

"She did something amazingly stupid. I can't just let her jump back in where she left off; she needs to pay her dues a bit. Plus I want to see how she handles Miranda at her nazi worst," she smirked. "It will build character."

"Well she's under your charge but," he said raising the straw, "No more spit balls at the interns, you understand?" They both nodded. "Now get out of here. I'm sure you both have better things to do with your time."

"Yes, yes you are right," Addie stammered, and both Mark and her hurried for the elevator, they managed to squeeze in before the doors closed and both burst out laughing.

The chief shook his head at his goof ball attendings then looked down in the pit at Isobel Stevens. He then noticed she was staring up at him open mouthed and she was looking at the straw he was holding in his hand. She put her fists on her hips and gave him a dirty look and stormed off. Oh that's just great the chief thought, now Stevens thinks he was the one shooting spit balls at her. He shook his head and walked away.

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Derek knocked on Addie's door then entered, she looked up and closed her eyes shook her head slightly then looked back up at him. "What do you want Derek?" she asked impatiently. She had tried to avoid Derek, but he was making it difficult. She didn't know if she could handle him being nice to her. She didn't want him to be nice, she wanted the indifferent Derek back, because that Derek made it easy for her to move on.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner on Friday night," he could see she was going to protest so he immediately added, "Not as a date but to discuss the baby."

"Derek I'm totally fine discussing the baby with you, we really don't need to go out to dinner to do that," she said evenly.

"But dinner would be nice," he smiled back at her.

"Dinner would be nice, but I can't I already have plans," she smiled with a slight shrug.

"Plans with Mark?" she could here a hint of jealousy in his voice.

She pursed her lips and shook her head, "No, Aubrey flies in this Friday, so I'm pretty much booked for the next two weeks. I've already reworked most of my appointments so I can spend as much time as possible with her during her visit."

"Oh that's great she coming out after all. I know you both always have so much fun during her visits," he said happily.

"So what was on your mind about the baby?"

"I wanted to know if I could come along to your prenatal check ups."

She bit the inside of her cheek, she really didn't want him there but she couldn't very well refuse. Mark had already told her she should ask him to come along now that he finally was acknowledging that it was his child. She gave him a weak smile and said, "Sure." She took out a pen and note pad and wrote down the date and time for her next appointed and handed it to him.

He took the paper smiling leaned over and gave her a light kiss on the lips, "Thank you Addison."

"You're welcome. Now get out of here I have paper work to finish up if I'm going to be out of the office most of the next two weeks," she smirked at him and gave him a shooing motion.

"Okay, okay I'm going," he headed for the door and stopped. "Addie thanks again. You don't know how much it means to me that you are allowing me to come along," a big grin appeared on his face.

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Addison headed into the cafeteria and Derek ran up behind them. "Hey mind if I join you for lunch?" he asked.

Addie shrugged and said, "Sure."

Derek frowned slightly, "You mean you do mind?"

"No," Addie gave his shoulder a little push, "Have lunch with us."

"Us?" he frowned.

"Mark should be down shortly," she said with a nod.

"Oh . . . Great," he said with a forced smile. "You find us a table and I'll get you something to eat," Derek grinned.

"Okay," she said with a shrug. She walked over to a table next to where Yang, Karev, O'Malley and Grey were sitting and claimed a seat.

She sat back and closed her eyes relaxing while she waited for Derek to return with their food. Derek returned after a few minutes with her lunch, a turkey sandwich, an orange, a cup of butterscotch pudding and a carton of milk. Addie looked down at her lunch bit her lower lip and said, "Thanks," with a small smile.

Mark walked up and looked down at her tray, picked up the orange and called over to Karev, "Heads up," and threw the orange at Karev who easily caught it. Karev shrugged looking at the orange and started to peel it. "I'll be right back," he said with a smile.

Derek was oblivious to Mark's actions; he was too busy checking his blackberry and obviously didn't know that Addie was staying away from oranges for the duration of her pregnancy.

Mark arrived back at the table with his lunch and a couple of items for Addie. He reached over took her butterscotch pudding and replaced it with a chocolate one. Then placed a banana and a glass of ice on her tray she gave him a small smile mouthing the words _thanks_. Derek didn't notice this exchange of food either he was still too busy checking his blackberry to see what the rest of his day's schedule was like.

Derek put his blackberry away and smiled at both Mark and Addie and said to Mark, "So did Addie tell you?"

Addie opened her carton of milk and poured it over the glass of ice and looked up at Derek, "No I didn't tell him, I've been busy this afternoon."

"Tell me what?"

"She is going to let me go to her prenatal check ups," he said with a smile.

"That's great," he smiled back at Derek. "I told her she should ask you to go, I'm glad she finally did."

Addison was about to respond, but then she noticed Izzie walk up to the table of interns, she dropped her lunch tray on the table and plopped down in the seat closest to her. "Oh my god you will not believe what happened to me today."

All the interns looked at her expectantly, not even wanting to garner a guess at what tortuous event the nazi had put her through today. She waited a beat and figured they were not going to try and guess. "The chief was shooting spit balls at me!" she said with exasperation. All the interns' mouths fell open in shock.

Hearing this Addie spit out her milk and looked over at Mark. From the look on his face she could tell he caught what she said too, their eyes widened and they both burst out into laughter. Derek had a confused look on his face and said "What?"

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Miranda and Addison leaned against the nurse's station and watched Izzie hurrying from room to room. Her latest group of patients was a group of boy scouts who were unfortunate enough to have been served a bad batch of beef stew. She had dozen boy scouts and two scout leaders all suffering from a mild case of food poisoning.

"So what's this rumor I hear going around about the chief shooting spit balls at Stevens?" she gave the tall redhead a sideways glance.

"Yeah," Addie said trying to look innocent and keep a straight face. "I heard that rumor too, pretty shocking."

"Uh huh," she agreed. "Pretty shocking, the funny thing about it, I happened to see two attendings that sure looked like they were pelting my intern with spit balls. Of course the male attending had pretty crappy aim and almost hit me."

Addie blushed at being found out, "Are you going to tell her?"

"And ruin the fun?" she laughed. "Everyone is bugging the chief telling him how horribly he is treating Stevens. First by putting me in charge of torturing her, then by pelting her with spit balls," she laughed again. "So, just how much longer to do you plan on torturing said intern?" she inquired.

"Well I have to say this much for her, she's a real trooper" Addie said as she looked on.

"Uh huh, covered in vomit and I hate to think what else and not one complaint from her," Miranda looked over to Addie and said, "Do you think she's had enough down here?"

Addie grinned at Miranda and nodded. "Yeah, I think we can let her know she can report to me first thing tomorrow morning," she smiled back at the blonde intern and nodded.

"Good," she said with a nod. "You know I love having my suck ups, but she was taking all the fun out of it."

Addie gave her a puzzled look, "How so?"

"Because she refused to complain!" Miranda shook her head in exasperation, "She just took it, what's the fun in that?"

"Right," Addie chucked. "There's no fun in punishing someone who isn't going to bitch about it," she smirked. "Well I'm glad to finally take her off you hands, timing is perfect. I wanted Stevens back up to speed on my cases before my niece arrives at the end of the week."

"So do you want to tell her or should I?" she said as she watched Stevens leave the last of her sickly boy scouts.

"I'll tell her," Addie said with a smile.

"Stevens!" Izzie blew a blonde lock of hair from in front of her eye and looked over to Dr. Bailey. "Do you have a minute?"

Izzie nodded and hurried over to Dr. Bailey and Dr. Montgomery's side. "Stevens, Dr. Montgomery would like to have a word with you." Izzie was still wearing a gown covered in vomit, in her haste to see what Dr. Bailey wanted she forgot to remove it.

The smell was definitely starting to get to Addie, but she pushed on. "Stevens, Dr. Bailey has told me you have done exemplary work here," she started to pale. "And she feels you are ready to get back in the game," she swallowed and closed her eyes for a moment then went on, "So I decided starting tomorrow you will start working on my service." Izzie eyes lit up and she started to bounce. "So, eight a.m. sharp don't be late."

Izzie reached out and pulled Addie into a hug. "Thank you, thank you." Oh boy that was a mistake since she still smelled like a barf bag and Addie was barely managing to hold down her lunch as it was. Struggling to extricate herself from the embrace Addie's eyes widened as she lost her lunch down Izzie's back. Izzie's eyes widened in surprise and stepped back away from Addie. "Oh my god, I am so sorry," she looked at Addie who gave her a weak smile then took off down the hall. Izzie looked open mouthed at Dr. Bailey and quickly said, "I'll get that cleaned right up."

"Damn straight you will," Miranda said with a nod.

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It had been a long week, but having Stevens back on her service helped things run a little more smoothly. She was finishing up the last of her paperwork before taking off for the rest of the day. Her niece was flying in today, she smiled thinking about her. She had lightened her schedule for the next two weeks, so she could spend as much time with her as possible during her visit. She had asked Mark if he wanted to go to the airport with her to pick Aubrey. Mark didn't have any nieces or nephews of his own and had always considered Aubrey like a niece. Addie had always gotten the impression her niece always liked Mark better then Derek, she was never sure why but the two just seemed to have clicked from the first day they met.

Izzie was giving Addie a final run down on her patients before she had to leave. "Okay, I'll have the labs run on Mrs. Harris and schedule the ultrasound for Mrs. Martin," Izzie smiled at Dr. Montgomery. She had been back to work for two weeks now, for more then a week of her time back she was at Dr. Bailey's beckon call, she was taken aback at first at the amount of scut work Dr. Bailey had given her do, but it was worth it. She would have spent a month happily doing it, but there was no way she was going to let her superiors know that. "The Peterson boy is finally off his vent. So I'll run more labs on him, and keep a closer watch to make sure his oxygen levels are maintained. I think that is about all for now."

Addie smiled at her young intern, she was very happy with the young woman's progress, she took the hazing Miranda and she had handed out without a single complaint. They were hard on her for almost two weeks straight, but it didn't break her she seemed to actually enjoy what they dished out. She even took the constant ribbing from her friends in stride; while they were working real cases she was doing their scut work. "Excellent Stevens, you seem to have everything covered. As you know I am on a limited schedule for the next two weeks. Dr. Williams will be covering most of my cases, except for emergencies. Have you talked to Dr. Williams already?" Izzie nodded "Very good, then if you don't have any other questions," she looked at her watch, Mark should be up to picked her up any minute.

"No questions, just," she smiled, "Have fun with your niece."

"Thanks," she grinned. She noticed Mark heading down the hall toward her, she caught his eye, and he smiled and waved. Just as he moved to her side, her pager went off she looked down nine-one-one. She reached over and picked up the phone and called to find out what the page was about. She closed her eyes as she listened, she would not be able to go with to pick up her niece.

She hung the phone up and turned to Mark, "It's an emergency I have to stay, a woman in her mid thirties is being brought in she is in her thirty-first week and in labor."

"Say no more," Mark said, "I'll pick Aubrey up, so you don't need to worry about her. Just give me a call when things calm down," he smiled at her gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and headed to the elevator.

Addie turned and looked at Izzie, who had been listening to her exchange with Mark; she nodded at the young blonde and said, "Are you ready?" Izzie nodded. "Okay let's go," they both headed to the emergency room to wait on their patient's arrival.

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Mark waited at the gate looking over the exiting passengers for Aubrey. A smile broke across his face when he saw her heading out of the exit doors. Tall, very thin, out of control red hair and when she noticed him waiting a big grin grew on her face showing the braces she cried about getting last summer. "Uncle Mark!" she squealed and she ran toward him and jumped into his arms, he spun her around after he caught her.

"Hi squirt," he grinned at her, "How was the flight?"

"Horrible, I got stuck sitting next to some dumb boy who fell asleep and started to drool on me," she grimaced. She looked around and noticed her aunt was no where in sight, "Where's Aunt Addie?"

"She had an emergency, so she sent me to get you. You don't mind do you?"

"It's cool," she smiled up at him.

"Come on lets go find your bags."

Fifteen minutes later they had her bags in hand and were heading to his car.

"So Aunt Addie sent you to pick me up, does that mean that you and she are, you know?" Aubrey grinned at Mark wiggling her eyebrows.

Mark gave her a little shove. "No we are just friends," he said with a firm nod.

"Whatever you say," she said not believing him.

"Aubrey really we are just friends." He sighed, "I was hoping for more, but. . ."

"But then she ended up pregnant with Derek's kid?"

He nodded.

"That kind of sucks for you, I guess that puts a little cramp in the romance." She thought for a moment, "Do you think Derek and Aunt Addie will get back together?"

Mark thought for a moment, "Honestly?" she nodded. "That is a very distinct possibility," she gave him a tight smile and nodded.

The both settled in the car and started to head for her aunt's new house. She sat back in her seat and looked out the window and thought about her aunt, she never really quite understood her aunt and Derek's relationship. Derek and Aunt Addie were always so serious. Yeah she knew she loved him, she could always see that in the way she would smile when she talked about him, but try as she may she could never really remember them laughing together. She could only remember that he was always upsetting her in one way or another. She was different when she was with Uncle Mark; they were always kidding and joking with each other. It never seemed to take any effort for them to have fun together. All she knew was when she grew up she wanted to be with someone who made her laugh, not cry. But what does a thirteen year old know anyways?

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**I hope you enjoyed this installment, please let me know what you think.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Recovery**

**Part XIII**

Before heading to Addison's house, Mark and Aubrey decided to get something to eat, since they were both starving. They decided on Pirate's Cove a family style seafood restaurant. The hostess seating them asked, "Do we need a children's menu?" Aubrey rolled her eyes. "Okay that's two adult menus," and then she had the nerve to ask, "Do you want the crayons?"

"No thank you," Aubrey said stiffly, still annoyed about the children's menu, really she _was_ thirteen.

The hostess seated them in a booth with a window view of Lake Washington, the sun was still shining and you could see the paddle boats gliding across the lake. "Your server will be with you shortly," the hostess informed them and left them to their menus.

"So other then getting drooled on how was your flight?" Mark asked looking over the top of his menu.

"It was ok, the movie was pretty good . . ." Then she was completely distracted, "Oh my god it's soooo cute, I want one!" she squealed.

Mark looked around the restaurant trying to figure out what she was talking about then saw her grinning at a little girl with brown curly hair who seemed about five, she was wearing a pirate hat. He grinned at her and chuckled, this was the girl not five minutes ago who was so insulted that the hostess had the nerve to ask if she wanted a children's menu. "Well I bet they give them to all the kids, if you ask nicely," he tried to stifle another laugh.

Just then their server approached. "Hi I'm Katie and I will be your server this evening. Would you like something to drink?" she looked at Aubrey first smiling at the redheaded girl.

"I'd like a Dr. Pepper, please," replied politely.

Then Katie turned to Mark and gave him a big smile, "And you sir?"

"I'll have the same," Mark said then added, "We'd also like a bucket of steamed mussels for an appetizer." He looked over to Aubrey to see if she would approve, she was smiling back and gave him a nod, happy he remembered she loved steamed mussels.

"Great I'll put that right in," she smiled. Then looked from Mark to Aubrey and asked, "Is there anything else you need?"

Aubrey's eyes widened as she looked at him with expectation so he said, "Oh could we get a pirate hat, too?"

"Certainly," Katie said with a smile.

"Could we get two?" Aubrey asked grinning at Mark.

"Sure thing," Katie said with a smile and left to put their order in.

"Two?" Mark raised an eyebrow at her; she grinned back at him giggling and nodded.

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Izzie and Addie stood side by side looking down on their newest tiny patient. Baby boy Jenkins might have come early into this world, but he was a fighter. He needed to be on a CPAP for the time being, but he was strong and should be breathing completely unassisted in the next 48 hours. "I have scheduled a cranial ultrasound and an aEEG as requested. We should have both results with in the next hour. The labs should also be back by that time as well." Izzie smiled up at Addison looking for her approval.

Addison nodded at the young blonde intern and smiled, "Thank you Stevens, great work. Seriously I'm impressed," she gave her intern another smile. "I'll be going to the operating gallery to observe Mrs. Jenkins' surgery. If Mr. Jenkins arrives or the test results come in before I'm back, page me." Izzie smiled as she watched Addie leave the NICU and head to the elevator. She wrapped her arms around herself and gave herself a hug; it was so amazing to be back.

Addie made a detour to her office before heading to watch Mrs. Jenkins' surgery. She wanted to make sure Mark had fed Aubrey, since she was definitely not going to be home for dinner. She sat down at her desk picked up the phone and dialed Mark's cell phone. She leaned back in her chair, propped her feet up on the corner of her desk, as his phone rang.

Mark and Aubrey sat back in there seats, still wearing the pirate hats. Both were finishing off the last of their meal and they were discussing their favorite movies.

"You really like scary movies?" he asked in surprise.

She nodded vigorously, "I love The Ring, but Psycho is still my favorite."

"Oh a classic, I love Psycho too. Hitchcock is my all time favorite director."

"Mine too!" she agreed whole heartedly.

"But all these scary movies, don't they give you nightmares?" he gave her a sideling glance, questioning her ability to sit through a scary movie.

She shook her head grinning back at him, "Nope, no nightmares." Mark's phone started to ring; he picked it up and answered. "Is it Aunt Addie?" Aubrey asked excitedly when Mark answered his cell, he nodded.

After assuring Addie that he had indeed feed her niece, he passed the phone over to Aubrey, who took it eagerly. He watched her animated conversation with her Aunt and smiled on. Finally finished she handed his phone back to him. "So," he said, "We have another hour to kill before going to the hospital anything in particular you would like to do?" he noticed her glazing at the lake outside the window and the groups of paddle boats gliding across the lake, her eyes lit up as she watched them. He gave her a small nod and signaled for their server.

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Izzie walked up behind Meredith, she had seemed entranced by something, Izzie followed her gaze and saw what had caught her attention and frowned. At the end of the hall were Derek and Addison standing outside Mrs. Jenkins room. They were deep in conversation and definitely had no clue Meredith was down the hall intently watching their interaction. "Meredith?" Izzie startled her out of her reverie.

"Oh Izzie you scared me," she said out of breath.

"What are you doing?" Izzie questioned her accusingly.

"Noth . . . nothing," she stammered. "Do you think they will get back together?" she looked up at Izzie distress showing on her face.

"Honestly Meredith I don't know, but considering she is pregnant with his child, probably." Meredith pursed her lips and looked away from the couple as Derek brushed a lock of hair out of Addison's face, they were both smiling. That was something that hadn't really occurred between the two of them for a long time. "Meredith," Izzie began, "You realize when she divorced him; she was still in love with him. She divorced him because he refused to let go of you and give their marriage a fair chance," she said reproachfully.

"I know," she said with a sigh.

"Meredith pleeeease tell me you are not still in love with him," she said with concern.

She looked up at Izzie with hurt showing in her eyes then quickly turned away, her back facing both Izzie and the couple down the hall.

"Oh my god Meredith," Izzie whispered, "What about Finn?"

"I like Finn, he is a good man, and I really like him," Meredith sighed.

"But?" Izzie questioned her.

"But I don't know," she said in exasperation. "I Just don't . . ." her voice trailed off.

Standing behind Meredith she stepped closer then wrapped her arms around her. "You know you have two choices here," she gave her a squeeze. "Either you tell him right now, before things start up again with him and Addison or you keep this buried and never ever let him know how you feel and try to move on with Finn." She shook her head worrying that her friend was going on this rollercoaster again.

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Addison was going over last minute instructions with Izzie for the evening, before she left for the night. Both their attention was drawn to the opening elevator; they looked on and smiled at the exiting passengers.

"After you milady," Mark stood holding open the elevator door for Aubrey. "I may be a black hearted pirate, but I shall see that you come to no harm while in my charge," he said removing his pirate hat with a bow.

"Thank you kind sir," Aubrey replied. "They tell me you are a black hearted pirate, but you have rescued me from those scurvy scoundrels and shown me nothing but kindness. Rest assure, I will let the Queen know that you rescued me from my captors and I am sure she will happily reward you handsomely for my safe return." After exiting the elevator she turned to Mark and curtsied. They both burst into a fit of laughter.

As they looked on the two exiting the elevator Izzie said with a smile, "They seem like they are having a good time."

"They usually do," Addie said grinning back at her; she held her arms out to her niece who was now rushing to her.

"Auntie Addie," she exclaimed as she closed ground, she reached up to hold her hat in place. Once she reached her aunt she hugged her tightly and grinned up at her aunt.

Addie hugged her back tightly then put her at arms length so she could get a good look at her. "You've grown," she said with a smile. She had noticed her niece had grown a good three inches since the previous summer; she had to be at least five foot five. Her mother was right when she told her Aubrey was just like her, from the red hair and braces to her niece's growth pattern that seemed to mimic her own. She had always been very thin and tall and continued to grow through high school, and she even grew an inch after she had graduated. Besides being a band geek with braces, she was what they called a late bloomer and the boys had always teased her about her height and lack of body form.

She smiled at her niece again and gave her hand a squeeze. "Aubrey I'd like you to meet my intern, Dr. Stevens," she directed her niece to Izzie, "Dr. Stevens my niece Aubrey."

Aubrey reached out to shake Izzie's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Dr. Stevens," she said with a smile.

"The pleasure is mine, and please call me Izzie," she smiled back at the young girl. Izzie could see in the young girl's eyes how much she adored her aunt and in turn how much Addison adored her niece. They definitely had a mutual fan club going on.

Izzie looked up as Mark interrupted holding the pirate hat out to Addison. "Excuse me milady I see my mission has been accomplished and my charge has once again been reunited with her family," he said with a grin and bowed. They all laughed.

Aubrey realizing that Mark was going to leave turned and gave him a hug. "Thanks Uncle Mark I had a lot of fun," she said grinning up at him.

"You're welcome squirt, I had fun too. I have to get going though I have an early morning surgery scheduled and you and your aunt need to catch up." He broke free of the hug then leaned over and gave Addie a quick hug. "You guys have fun and I'll see you both later."

"Mark thanks again," Addie smiled at him.

"It was my pleasure Addie," he smiled waved at the three women and headed for the elevator.

Addie turned back to Izzie and said, "Do you have any other questions before I take off?"

Izzie shook her head, "No, I think you covered everything and if an emergency comes up I'll page you." She smiled and added, "It was very nice to meet you Aubrey."

"It was nice meeting you too Izzie," she smiled back.

Izzie gave Addie a shooing motion. "Now get out of here and have fun!" she said with a laugh.

"Okay, okay we are out of here," Addie grinned back. "I'll talk to you in the morning," she put the pirate hat on, grinned at her niece and put her arm around her and they headed for the elevator.

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**I hope you enjoyed this installment, please let me know what you think.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Recovery**

**Part XIV**

"Addison," she stopped and turned as she heard Derek calling her name. Okay what does he want now she thought to herself; she still couldn't quite get use to the change in his attitude toward her. Derek walked up to her side and smiled and kissed her on the cheek. "Hey, I've hardly seen you all week," this reintroduction of intimacy between them still confused her. She wished he would ease up and let her get a handle on her emotions.

"I told you I was taking off while Aubrey was here. I only stop by in the mornings to check on my patients." She stood with her arms crossed upon her chest, slightly impatient. Her red hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and she had on her lab coat, but was dressed casually in a turquoise tank top and khaki pants with sandals. Derek smiled as he looked her up and down and could now notice the slight swell of her stomach.

"I know I hope you two are having fun." Derek looked around, "Where is Aubrey?"

"Stevens took her to the cafeteria while I check on my patients," she began to tap her foot impatiently. "So did you need to consult on a patient or something?"

"No, no I just was wondering if you and Aubrey wanted to come over to the trailer for dinner tomorrow night?" he grinned.

"Well, I'm sure that would be lots of fun, but tomorrow night we are going to the theater," she gave him a little shrug.

Derek smiled remembering going to the theater was part of Addie and Aubrey's summer ritual, he was glad Seattle was able to accommodate that tradition. Addie always made it a big deal for Aubrey, it was a girl's only night out and they spent the day at the spa getting their nails and hair done. They would get dressed up and go to a four star restaurant. "Okay tomorrow night is out of the question, then how about you come over on Sunday?" He could tell she wasn't convinced, "Please?"

"Fine," she looked down closed her eyes and gave her head a slight shake. Okay he's trying she should at least meet him halfway way, right? She looked up and smiled back at him and nodded, "What time do you want us to come over?"

"How about noon, we will make a whole day of it. I'll even teach Aubrey how to fish," his smile grew.

"I'm sure she would love that," she said smirked. "Okay Sunday at noon. Now I have to finish my rounds," she reached out and touched his shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.

"Okay I'll let you finish up so you can get out of here," he leaned over and gave her another kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you Sunday then."

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George and Meredith stood a short distance from the table where Izzie and a redheaded teenage girl sat. They were in deep conversation both laughing and talking enthusiastically. Meredith studied the teenage girl, red hair pulled back in a high ponytail, she could see her braces as she laughed, she was dressed in a turquoise tank top and khaki shorts; typical teen fair for this time of year. She was curious why Izzie was having a break with the girl, maybe she was one of her patient's children. Izzie it seemed still had a problem getting too attached, Meredith shook her head. George and Meredith approached the table, but the two sitting there were so intent in their conversation they hadn't noticed George and Meredith take a seat at their table. George cleared his throat and asked, "Who's your friend?"

They both looked up in surprise, a smile grew on Izzie's face as she said, "This is Aubrey, Dr. Montgomery's niece." She looked over at Aubrey and said, "Aubrey I'd like to introduce you to my roommates George O'Malley and Meredith Grey." Aubrey cocked an eyebrow at the mention of Meredith's name; she knew exactly who she was. She reached out her hand to shake hands with both George and Meredith.

Cristina and Alex plopped down at the table a minute later, "I can't believe this; Sloan is letting you assist on the Peterson surgery?"

"Damn straight he just gave me the go ahead," she grinned at him.

"This is unfreaking believable I've been working my ass off on this case," he complained.

"Hey I worked my ass off too! Damn I spent all day running around doing the labs on that case," she smirked. "Seriously!"

"Hey I was on the case since they brought the kid in," Alex shot back. "Really this is unfreaking believable," he scowled.

Aubrey sat back in her chair and looked on with interest as the two argued back and forth on who more deserve to be in on the operation. Izzie interrupted the arguing, "Hey guys have you met Dr. Montgomery's niece?"

Both halted their bickering and stared at the girl sitting at their table. Aubrey reached out her hand grinning and holding back a laugh. "Aubrey Montgomery," she shook both their hands.

"Cristina Yang," she introduced herself as she shook her hand.

"Alex Karev," he introduced himself as he shook her hand.

Aubrey gave them both a deliberate smile and said, "Yeah I've heard my aunt and uncle both talk about all of you interns."

"They have?" Cristina said eagerly hoping to find out their opinion. "Dr. Montgomery and Dr. Shepherd have talked about us?"

Aubrey made a face at the mention of Derek. "No Aunt Addie and Uncle Mark, I have no clue what Derek thinks of _most_ of the interns." She turned to Meredith and locked eyes with her and narrowed them. Meredith flushed.

"So, Dr. Sloan is Uncle Mark and Dr. Shepherd is Derek?" Alex asked amused by the Mini-Montgomery obvious dislike for Dr. Shepherd.

Aubrey shrugged, "I've known Dr. Sloan my entire life, he's always been Uncle Mark to me." She frowned at Meredith, "As for Derek? I've barely seen him in the last three years and I think he's an ass." A look of guilt crossed her face; she bit her lower lip and looked over to Izzie, "Don't tell my aunt I swore."

The interns all laughed, expect for Meredith. Aubrey looked up and saw Derek approaching their table. She grimaced as he zeroed in on her. "Good morning Aubrey," he said with a smile.

"Hey Derek," she said unenthusiastically.

"What not Uncle Derek?" he asked raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah whatever," she said under her breath.

Derek looked around the table uncomfortably. "So," he went on, "You and your aunt are going to come to my trailer for a barbeque on Sunday," he said with a smile.

She responded by saying, "Oh great," with a forced smile, but was thinking ewww. Then an evil glint came into her eye. "Oh did you invite Uncle Mark too?" she noticed Derek flinch and she smirked.

"No it's just you and your aunt," he said evenly, he choose to ignore her obvious taunt. "I figured we could go fishing," he smiled again.

"Fishing oh fun," she tried not to roll her eyes, she wasn't too sure if she had managed not to though. "So yeah, I guess I'll see you Sunday." She kept giving pleading looks at the interns trying to get them to rescue her. She blew out a sigh of relief when his pager went off and he excused himself. "Bleh, what was Aunt Addie thinking," she complained after he was gone. She slouched in her seat with her arms crossed over her chest, scowling as she blew a stray hair out of her eyes.

"I like this kid," grinned Alex. "She's not taken in by the _McDreamy _charm," that brought a grin to her face again, both laughed and bumped fists.

Aubrey's mood changed the instant she looked up and saw Mark enter the cafeteria; she shot up from her seat and ran across the room to meet him. "Uncle Mark you have got to help me!" she pleaded.

"Help you?" he asked with concern, "what do you need?"

"I need rescuing," she pouted. The interns watched the exchange from across the room, they couldn't hear what they were talking about, but Aubrey's animated behavior was pretty amusing to them.

"Okay squirt what do you need rescuing from?" he raised an eyebrow and looked over to the table of interns where she had just come from. "Are the interns bugging you because I can . . .?"

She interrupted him, "NO it's not them it's Derek!" She threw her arms in the air waving them frantically as she continued, "He is making me go to his trailer on Sunday for a barbeque and he wants me to fish!" she started to pout again.

Mark stifled a chuckle then tried to look serious, "Well I'm sure you will have a great time, I hear it's pretty nice out there."

"Are you serious? You are going to just let Aunt Addie make me go there?" she furrowed her brow and put her hands on her hips.

"Yep you are gonna have to suck it up and deal with Derek," he smiled down at the furious girl and gave her shoulder a little nudge which made her crack a smile. "Come on squirt." He took a more serious tone with her, "We all have to do things we don't want to and you are just going to have to accept that Derek is still a part of your aunt's life."

"Fine," she said exasperated. "I'll go to Derek's dumb trailer for his dumb barbeque and go stupid fishing," she shook her head, she couldn't believe that Uncle Mark wasn't going to get her out of this.

"Hey it's only one day right?" he smiled at her; she smiled back and gave him a brief nod. "I was talking to Addie and we were thinking maybe we would take you to a movie Wednesday night, how does that sound?"

"Okay that sounds like fun," she said cautiously. "Just as long as it's something scary," she grinned back. "I guess I can deal with going to Derek's on Sunday, you are right one day _isn't_ going to kill me."

Mark put his arm around her shoulder and started guiding her back to the table of interns, she changed the subject. "I have a question for you," she waited for him to nod before going on, "So Yang and Karev were talking about your next operation, are you gonna let Karev assist too?" she looked up at him curiously.

"Do you think I should?" she grinned and nodded.

Mark chuckled at her, "He made a good impression on you huh?" she grinned back and nodded again.

When they reached the table Mark looked over at the cocky young intern, "Karev I hear you want in on the Peterson surgery."

His eyes lit up, "Yes I do."

"Okay we scrub in at eight a.m. sharp, don't be late," he saw Yang getting ready to protest. "Don't worry Yang you are still in," a look of relief crossed her face. He turned to Aubrey and said, "Okay squirt I have to get back to work." He winked at her, "Figure out what movie you want to see," she smiled and nodded.

The group watched Mark leaving but he stopped short of exiting when Addison entered. He stopped to chat with her, they couldn't hear what he was telling her but whatever it was it have made her laugh. The interns were studying the difference in the attending, they had never seen her looking so relaxed or casual before, nor had they seen her looking so cheerful before. It was a nice change, seeing her so full of life and obviously happy.

She was smiling as she approached their table. "Hey guys," her smile lit up her entire face and even reached her eyes. "Thanks for hanging out with my niece, I hope she behaved herself," she grinned at her niece.

"Of course I behaved myself," Aubrey acted insulted, and then grinned. "Everyone knows I'm a pleasure to have around." The interns all agreed that they had fun hanging out with Aubrey and hoped to see her again before she went home. Aubrey stood and Addie wrapped her arm around her shoulder. "Thanks for the muffin Izzie and it was really nice meeting you all," she smiled at the interns.

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**I hope you enjoyed this installment, please let me know what you think.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Recovery**

**Part XV**

Aubrey fiddled with the search button on the car stereo, her aunt's music taste wasn't always to her liking, sure she liked Liz Phair, Rachael and Jem, but Beth Orton and Rilo Kiley? She raised an eyebrow and glanced over at her aunt. "How about we turn on the radio instead of listening to the cds?"

Addie glanced at her niece and smirked, "aAre you making fun of my taste in music?"

"No offense but," she tried keeping a straight face, "Beth Orton?"

"Hey I like her and that's my favorite song," you could hear _God Song _playing softly. "What would you rather listen to?"

"Oh I don't know some Nelly, Black Eyed Peas or All American Rejects," she grinned back.

They continued their debate on what qualified as good music as they pulled up to Derek's trailer. Aubrey leaned forward in her seat her mouth hanging open; her opinion of her aunt's taste in music was all but forgotten. "Oh my god, you actually lived here?" she laughed. "In a trailer, this is a joke right? Tell me you are joking," Aubrey laughed uncontrollably. "I mean seriously Aunt Addie your closet in New York was bigger then this," she continued to laugh.

"Hey it wasn't _that_ bad," she stared straight ahead at the trailer keeping a straight face, "In fact it was kind of cozy."

Aubrey gave her a sidelong glance, not believing one word she said. "Yeah right whatever you say," she giggled.

Addie shook her head trying to stifle a laugh. "Okay you're right I hated it." She finally laughed, "Come on lets go."

Derek walked out the trailer door to greet them. "Hi," he leaned over and kissed Addie lightly on the lips, then kissed her a little more firmly, Addie pulled back slightly.

"Ugh! Minor here!" Aubrey exclaimed as she covered her eyes. Addie and Derek broke apart and looked at her laughing. "Sooo, Derek . . . um nice trailer," she said sarcastically, which was lost on him.

"Thanks," he said with a grin. "See I told you she'd love it," he said walking back to the trailer. Aubrey rolled her eyes behind his back and Addie's eyes widened as she gave her that look telling her to behave.

They settled on the deck. "Would you like something to drink? I have lemon aide, iced tea and coke," he asked smiling from Addie to Aubrey.

Addie's pager pierced the air she looked down, nine-one-one. "I have to call and see what this is about," she flipped open her phone, dialed the hospital, and walked off the deck.

They both watched as Addie paced back and forth, a deep concern washed over her face while she talked on the phone. Aubrey said absently, "Coke," as she continued to study her aunt, a small smile played on her lips.

"What?" he asked, he was busy studying Addie as well, he frowned knowing all too well how this phone call was going to turn out.

"I'll have a coke," she said quietly. Derek rose from his seat and entered the trailer; he exited a minute later with a can of coke and handed it to Aubrey. "Thanks," she said as she took it from him.

Addie hung up her phone and walked back to Derek and Aubrey. "Sorry guys I have to go to the hospital an emergency came up with the Jenkins' boy." Aubrey started to rise from her seat a smile grew on her face.

Derek smiled and put his hand on Aubrey's shoulder, but she shrugged it off. "Aubrey and I can do some fishing while you are at the hospital and by the time you get back we will have dinner ready." He wanted Addie to see that he was trying to get along with her niece. He knew in the past he really never made much of an effort and it had always upset her.

Addie tilted her head to the side, she bit the inside of her cheek contemplating how angry her niece would be if she left her behind, she pursed her lips and watched the smile fade from her niece's face as it sunk in that she was going to indeed be left here alone with Derek. She walked over to Aubrey and put her arm around her shoulder. "Okay I know you don't want to stay behind, and I know you didn't want to come here in the first place but," she said gently, "Aubrey can you please stay here? I promise won't be long. Derek really wanted to spend some time with you and take you fishing."

Aubrey dropped back into her seat stunned that she had to stay. "Fine," she said with some venom in her tone, she was most definitely pissed off.

Addie looked down on her niece sympathetically gave her a hug and tried to reassure her, "Hey it's not going to be _that_ bad and I promise I won't be gone that long." Addie stood tweaked her niece's nose and winked at her.

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The air was filled with the scent of pine, it was peaceful but for the occasional bird call. The lake was calm except for the rippling on the surface caused by intermittent whooshing from the casting. It was cool in the shade of the tall pines that surrounded the lake. Neither one spoke as they stood side by side each working their line across the water, the fish did not seem to be biting; maybe they sensed the tension in the air.

Derek studied the sullen teenager standing next to him; she had a good rhythm to her cast something he was sure she had learned from her grandfather. He knew she didn't want to be here and it had nothing to do with the fishing. He narrowed his eyes and smiled there was no denying she was a Montgomery they all had a stubborn streak, and once they formed an opinion it was almost impossible to change it. "Look Aubrey," he began, "I want you to know that I never stopped loving your aunt."

Aubrey slowly turned her head and looked at Derek, her brow furrowed, "Are you serious?"

"Of course I am," he said sincerely.

"Then your idea of love is pretty damn shitty," she snapped back at him. Derek's mouth hung open and he tried to protest. "I might only be thirteen, but even I know you should treat someone you love better then how you treated Aunt Addie."

"You don't have a clue how. . ."

"Cut the crap Derek," she was now furious with him. "I don't have a clue? You know how close Aunt Addie and Grandma Maddie are. Our family talks, we all knew what was going on," she continued, "And you seem to forget I spend two weeks with my aunt every summer." She narrowed her eyes at him, "Oh yeah I forgot you haven't really been around for the last three!"

"Last summer I was in Seattle," he interrupted.

"Right when you ran away," she shook her head. "Okay that explains why I didn't see you last summer but what about the two summers before that? Two weeks both summers and I saw you for what an hour?"

"I was working," he countered.

"I heard her talking to you on the phone trying to get you to come home and at least have dinner with us. But no, you couldn't be bothered. Was that because you love Aunt Addie soooo much?" she narrowed her eyes at him. "You probably don't even have a clue how much that upset her. You are the only person I've _ever_ seen make her cry." She threw her fishing pole on the ground. "Uncle Mark made the time for my visits; he always tried to put a positive spin on your absence, but I'm not stupid!" her voice level increased.

He flinched, "Why is he Uncle Mark and I am Derek?"

"Because he didn't break my aunt," she shouted at him. "_You_ did!" she jabbed her finger into his chest. "I can't believe how much crap you put Aunt Addie through letting her believe you wanted to work things out. She gave up everything for you!" She through her hands up in frustration, "Her practice in New York, her home, her friends!"

"Mark!" he started to say, but she interrupted him.

"That's right go ahead and bring up Mark!" she put her fists on her hips and glared at him, "I know I know _everything_ is Mark's fault."

"Your aunt was no saint in the demise of our marriage," he said in a controlled voice.

"Oh please I never said she was but you pushed her," she kicked the fishing pole. "And you know what?" she stared him down. "I wish she stayed in New York with Mark!" She narrowed her eyes at him again, "You are not good enough for her and there is no way you really love her because you are too selfish!" She balled her fists at her side, "The only reason you want her back now is because of the baby." She sneered at him, "That and because your intern won't talk to you." Now that her rant was over she turned on stomped off back to the trailer.

She was so angry, she couldn't believe that she blew up at him like that but she couldn't help it, she had been so mad at him for so long. She reached the trailer deck and climbed the steps then dropped herself into one of the chairs she planted her elbows on her knees and rested her head in her hands.

Derek stood back watching Aubrey; he didn't have a clue what to say to her. How could he tell her she was wrong when most of what she said was true? Of course he wanted to get back with Addison because of the baby; he always felt she was his family. He wasn't the one who initiated the divorce she was, and if she had waited instead of rushing the divorce then they would still be together. They would still be married, he was sure of that. Now that she was having his child they had to get back together, he only hoped he could convince her to marry him again. Their child deserved to have both its mother and father together as a family. He didn't think wanting his child to have its mother and father together was selfish.

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**I hope you enjoyed this installment, please let me know what you think.**


	16. Chapter 16

**I know it's been a while since I updated this story but finally here is a new chapter, I hope you enjoy.**

**Recovery**

**Part XVI**

Addie opened her eyes; it was dark in her room and took a moment for her eyes to adjust. She looked over to the door and saw Aubrey standing tentatively in the doorway. "Hey," she said as she sat up in her bed. She smiled at her niece, "You couldn't sleep?" Aubrey shook her head, Addie patted the side of the bed and Aubrey quickly climbed into bed next to her aunt. "So what's going on that you can't sleep?"

Aubrey bit her lower lip and thought about it for a moment. "I . . . yelled at Derek," she said meekly.

Addie tilted her head, looked sympathetically at her niece and wrapped her arm around her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Ah so that is why the two of you barely spoke during dinner." She gave her a half smile and continued, "You know what?" Aubrey shook her head, her wild red curls bouncing back and forth. "I yell at him all the time," she grinned.

Her eyes widened, "You aren't mad?"

"No," she smiled at her niece her eyes lighting up. "I'm not going to be mad at you for speaking your mind."

"Are you going to ask me what I yelled at him about?" she asked unsure of herself again.

"No," she shook her head. "That is between Derek and you. You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to."

She blew out a sigh of relief; she knew her aunt was trying to be on good terms with Derek because of the baby. Sure she wished like anything they stayed strictly friends, but that wasn't her call, no matter how she felt about Derek. She only hoped if they did get back together she was wrong about Derek. Her aunt was a smart lady, right? She would be able to figure out whether Derek was sincere or not right?

"So no more talking about Derek tonight?" Addie smirked at her niece.

Aubrey vigorously nodded her head. "No more Derek talk tonight," she agreed. "I'll tell you about my email from Ritchie instead," she snuggled up close to her aunt as she talked about the boy she liked and how he wanted to take her to a movie when she got back home.

"This is the boy you told me about before right?" Aubrey nodded into her shoulder, "well he does sound very nice and you like him, huh?"

"Yeah I like him and the best part," she grinned up at her aunt. "He doesn't have braces," she laughed.

"Hey!" she feigned being insulted and gave her a nudge.

"Hey if you didn't want me to tease you about Skippy and you getting your braces locked together you shouldn't have told me," she laughed again, this time Addie laughed along with her.

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During Aubrey's visit both Mark and Derek had been on their best behavior, but during the past month since she had gone back home the tension between the two men had escalated.

Miranda and Addison were walking down the hall; they could hear the arguing getting louder as they moved down the hall. They stopped in their tracks when they found the source of said shouting. Addie paled and Miranda stormed forward. When she reached the source of said noise she reached up and grabbed each man by the ear and dragged them into the attending locker room, they had been standing in front of the door to said locker room.

Miranda stared both men down, sure they both towered over her but she had a way of making herself seem larger then life. "Now both you Neanderthals need to stop, do you have any idea what kind of pressure you are putting on Addison?" Both men tried to protest, but she cut them both off at the knees with one look. "You both need to get over your egos right now because whether you like it or not you both are an important part of her life. She isn't going to cut either one of you out no matter how much either of complain about the other." She turned to Derek first. "You should consider yourself damn lucky she is even speaking to you after the way you treated her the last year. You should be ashamed of yourself." Mark smiled behind her back; you had to love Bailey and her smack downs. She always told it like it was. "And you!" she shouted as she turned to Mark. "Wipe that grin off your face. I might have a soft spot for you because you helped put Addie back together, but he's the father of her child and he isn't going anywhere." She glared at both men, "If I get one more report that her blood pressure is elevated by even one point," she narrowed her eyes, "You both better find a good hiding place because I will neuter you both." She put her fists on her hips and demanded, "Now make nice and shake hands." Both men shook hands she gave them a nod and marched out of the room. She winked at Addie who was leaning against a locker by the door as she exited. Addie shook her head and smiled at the retreating resident and followed her out of the locker room, she considered herself very lucky to have such a good friend.

Both men were on their best behavior since Miranda's smack down two months ago. Addie could have sworn they would cringe whenever they would see the diminutive resident. Addie had continued to go to Derek's trailer on Sunday's for dinner; they spent the time trying to figure out where they stood.

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It was a chilly October evening Addie and Derek had finished dinner and were snuggled up under a comforter. Derek had added a glider swing last summer; it was a nice way to spend the evening. They sat quietly she was snuggled up to his chest, he had one arm wrapped around her shoulder pulling her close and his other hand resting on her stomach. He smiled as he felt their child kicking and somersaulting. "The baby is really active tonight," he whispered in her ear.

"Mmm she usually is this time of night," she said quietly, she didn't realize what she had said.

"She?" he said with a grin.

Her eyes widened, she didn't mean to tell him but it's hard not to be gender specific when you know. "I'm sorry I didn't mean for you to find out. I know you wanted to wait, but do you have any idea how had it is to call her it?" she grinned at him. "I hope you aren't too upset about knowing."

"No, no it's ok, a girl?" his smiled grew. "I like that we are going to have a girl." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "We should get married again, fly down to Vegas next weekend and get married."

Addie stiffened, she wasn't expecting this, and yes they had been getting along wonderfully lately but get remarried? "I don't know Derek, I . . ."

He interrupted her, "Addie don't you think our daughter deserves to have both parents?"

"And she will," she interrupted.

"I mean both parents as a family," he pleaded.

She sat up and turned to him. "Derek," she tilted her head, closed her eyes for a beat and looked at him seriously. "I'm not going to say yes but I won't say no either. You need to give me time to think this over," she searched his face. "Please?"

"Okay you think about it, you can't let me know your answer next Sunday," he smiled thoughtfully at her.

Shit Addie thought to herself why did he have to do this, we were actually getting along. He honestly expects me to give him an answer in a week. She looked over at him and gave him a weak smile, "I think it's time I head home, it's getting late and I want to get home before I get tired."

"Why don't you stay the night?" he gazed into her eyes and she recognized that look and what he meant. He reached out and caught her chin in his hand then leaned forward and gently kissed her.

When they pulled apart she was at a loss for words for a moment. "Really Derek I can't stay, I need to go home," she started to feel panicked and just wanted to get home.

"Okay," he said with disappointment he lightly kissed her on the forehead stood up and helped her to her feet then wrapped his arm around her shoulder and walked her to her car.

He leaned her up against her car and kissed her gently again, "Think about it Addie. I promise I won't mention it again until next Sunday." He gave her a small smile, "Please think about it."

She nodded. "Okay Derek, I'll think about it," her thoughts were swimming she was so confused. She had no clue how she felt about getting married to Derek again. Yes a family would be nice, but their situation was not ideal. They have been talking to each other for almost four months now and she still had no clue how Derek felt about her. She only knew his feelings toward their daughter.

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"Hi mom," Addie tentatively said into the phone. "I know it's late but . . ."

Madeline knew that Addie had dinner with Derek this evening; she would bet money that this phone call was prompted by said dinner. "Hi sweetie of course it's late, but I'm always happy to hear from you," She smiled to herself, "And how's my future granddaughter treating you this evening."

Addie smiled. "I think she is going to be a soccer player or a place kicker," she said rubbing her side.

"So I know there's a reason for your call, other then wanting to say hi to me," she prompted.

"Yeah there is," she sighed heavily. "Derek wants to get married again," she closed her eyes and waited for the explosion.

Madeline bit her lower lip trying to hold in the angry retort she could feel on the tip of her tongue. She took a deep breath, counted to ten and slowly let it out. "And did you give him an answer yet?" there she managed to say that in a normal level, she smiled at herself. She was proud she could maintain her control.

"I. . .I didn't answer him yet," she sighed again. "He told me he wants an answer next Sunday and said he won't bring it up until I come to dinner."

"I see," well at least he didn't demand an answer immediately, but still a week to think about it?

"If I say yes he wants to fly down to Vegas and get married." Okay her mom was maintaining her cool pretty well so far, but Addie was pretty sure that this was going to make her snap. She started to grin she could tell her mother had hit the mute button; she could just imagine what her mother was doing right now. She was sure she was pacing the room and probably saying more then a few choice explanatives. Addie laid back on her bed she gently pat her tummy. "I think grandma is going to be awhile," she smiled.

Madeline definitely was pacing the room, Marshall looked up from his paper when he heard his wife using language she rarely did. He raised an eyebrow watching his wife, shook his head and gave her a little chuckle. He would place a rather large sum of money that she was talking to their daughter and it very likely involved their ex-son-in-law. Madeline stopped her pacing when she noticed her husband watching her and she exclaimed, "What the fuck does he think he doing?"

Marshall tried to look concerned and keep the smile off his face. He couldn't help it that he always thought she was cute when she was pissed off. "Okay dear what did the boy do now?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"That god damn bastard asked her to marry him again," he could see the fumes rising from her head.

He narrowed his eyes, okay he really wasn't expecting that, "Did he now and did she give him an answer?"

"No," she shouted. "He gave her a week to answer and you didn't hear the best part."

"There is more?" now he was getting concerned.

"That god damn bastard wants them to go to Vegas to get married if she says yes," she let out a low scream in frustration. "Do you freaking believe that?"

He reached his hand out. "Give me the phone," he said sternly.

Madeline handed the phone to her husband then crossed her arms across her chest. Marshall hit the mute button on the phone. "Addison Forbes Montgomery there is no god damn way on this earth that you are going to get married to that man in Vegas!" he shouted into the phone.

Addie was stunned for a moment to hear her father on the line, though she really should have expected that. She should have realized her mother was in their bedroom with her father. After all it was close to their bedtime and he always read the paper in bed before turning in. "Hi daddy," she bit her lower lip took the phone away from her mouth and patted her tummy and whispered, "Yep grandpa is mad too." She took a deep breath and returned her attention to her father, "Don't worry daddy I refuse to get married in Vegas."

Marshall calmed down and said in a more relaxed tone, "Good girl." He looked over to his wife and smiled at her "You tell Derek that you have no intention of marrying before the baby is born. He can ask you again after the baby is born and give you a proper wedding if you agree to take him back." Madeline smiled at her husband; he was such a very sensible man.

"Okay daddy," she smiled into the phone. "I'll do just that and thanks for the very good advice."

"You're welcome sweetie I'll give you back to your mother now," he smiled again.

"I love you daddy," she grinned.

"I love you too pumpkin," he looked up and smiled at his wife then handed her the phone.

"Hi sweetie," Madeline said. "Just remember if things get too crazy there you can always come home and have the baby here. You know we would all love to have you here."

"I'll keep that in mind mom," she sighed and now had a relaxed smile on her face. "I love you mom."

"I love you too Addie," she sighed glad to know her daughter wasn't going to rush into any decision. She didn't think this was the time for her daughter to be making life altering decision. "Just keep in mind what I said okay?"

"Okay mom I will." Addie yawned and said, "I'll talk to you later mom, good night."

"Good night dear," Madeline hung up the phone and lay down in bed next to her husband.

Marshall pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. "She's a smart girl Maddie; we have to believe she will make the right choice, whatever that is for her."

"I know you are right dear she will make the right choice," she gave her husband a kiss then nestled her head on his shoulder.

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**I hope you enjoyed this installment, please let me know what you think.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Recovery**

**Part XVII**

All five former interns were once again gathered around their lunch table chatting about their day, there were now a quarter of the way through their second year and were now residents. Addison, Derek, Mark and Miranda were sitting at the table next to them and yet again Mark tossed Alex an orange. Miranda shook her head at Derek, who once again had his head buried in his blackberry. This had been bothering George, he thought it was weird that Sloan kept throwing oranges at Alex. He cleared his throat, "So Alex why does Sloan keep giving you oranges?"

"Because he thinks I'm a great surgeon," he grinned.

"If that were the case he would be giving me the oranges because you suck," Cristina chimed in.

"Ugh," Izzie rolled her eyes. "It's because Derek is a moron," Izzie said under her breath.

"What?" Alex and George asked.

"Oranges make Addison nauseous and Derek keeps bringing them to her."

"Oranges make her sick?" George looked curiously at the table next to them. He watched Bailey it was her turn to yet again swap her chocolate pudding for Addie's butterscotch and she placed a glass of ice on her tray, Addie poured her milk over the ice. George shrugged and turned his attention back to his own table.

She furrowed her brow, "I can't believe she is considering marrying him again."

Meredith's eyes widened, "What?"

"Are you serious?" Cristina asked with surprise.

"He asked her to marry him again," Izzie rolled her eyes. "I don't know how she could even consider it, seriously the man is hopeless."

"Of course she would consider it, Derek will make a wonderful father." Meredith sank back into her chair and studied the group at the table next to them. Her superiors seemed to be enjoying their lunch Addison, Derek and Mark were laughing at something Bailey had said. She watched Derek lean over and gently placed his hand on Addison's shoulder. She narrowed her eyes, of course she is going to marry him again. Derek was wonderful and he is the father of her child. After all Derek was the one who wanted out of their marriage, not Addison. Meredith leaned her head on her hand and rubbed her temple, thinking about them back together was giving her a headache.

The group sitting next to the residents continued to chat and for a minute it looked like Miranda was going to give Derek a smack upside the head, he was rescued by his pager going off. He rose from the table leaned down and kissed Addison on the side of the head and left the room. "So just how many times does he have to eat lunch with you before he figures out what you like to eat?"

Both Mark and Addie laughed. "We figured about the time I go back to liking butterscotch pudding and oranges," Addie smirked.

Miranda shook her head, she wasn't too sure about Derek; he still had a lot to prove to her. But if Addie decided she wanted to be married to him again that was her business.

"I know both of you are freaking out about Derek asking me to marry him, and I appreciate that you are keeping your opinions to yourself," she smiled at both of her friends. "I don't want you to worry; I'm not going to rush into anything. I already decided I am going to tell him we need to wait until after the baby is born before we decide anything."

Miranda blew out a sigh of relief and nodded at her friend. Good she thought she still does have some common sense.

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Derek and Addison sat at the kitchenette in the trailer, they had just finished up their dinner and Derek cleared the table. They hadn't discussed the marriage proposal yet. Addie did know she would refuse to fly to Vegas to get married. She did think her father was right; she should wait until after the baby was born to make such a monumental decision.

Derek walked over to the only closet in the trailer. "I have something for you," he said with a smile. He pulled out a large roll of papers, walked back over to the table, stood next to it and unrolled the papers.

Addie looked down at the blue prints in front of her and frowned, "What is this?" she asked beginning to worry.

"I am going to have a house built for us on the land," his smile grew larger.

Addie's brow furrowed. "But I already have a house," she replied evenly. A house that I love she thought to herself angrily.

"But this would be for us and our family, it will be a home," he went on.

"But I already have a home Derek," she looked up at him still frowning. "And I love living there."

"But this would be for us," he was starting to complain.

"Derek why do you just dismiss my feelings?" she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms across her chest. "You know maybe if you would come to the house, you would understand how I feel about it," she irritably.

"I've seen it," he stated flatly.

"You haven't been inside," she pursed her lips. "I don't understand why you refuse to come over. It's not like you haven't been invited." She looked down at the plans for the cabin and held her hand out to them. "This is not what I want. I'm sorry Derek, but I am really happy with the home I have already." She looked up at him trying to get him to understand how she felt. "And if you can't accept that we are going to have problems."

"Okay you are right I should have discussed this with you first, I'm sorry," he walked over and wrapped his arms around her and kissed the side of her head. He sat back down at the table and gave her a fragile smile.

She relaxed and said smiled shyly at him, "I have something for you." She reached down to her purse and pulled out a box and slid it over to him.

He carefully opened it and a smile spread across his face it was a paper weight that had a picture frame in it; right now it had a picture from her latest ultrasound.

He stood up and pulled her to her feet wrapping his arms around her. "Thank you, I love it," he whispered in her ear. She snuggled into his shoulder and closed her eyes, maybe they can make this work, she thought. Then he whispered in her ear again, "If you keep this up you are going to make me fall in love with you again."

Her eyes snapped open; did he really just say that? She tensed in his arms. Her mind was racing going over the last four months they had spent together. That's when it began to dawn on her; he never once told her he loved her. It was always about the baby and their being a family. She gently pushed away from him. She looked up into his eyes; he obviously didn't have a clue that what he had just said hurt her.

"Derek," she began quietly, "I can't marry you."

He looked at her stunned, "But I want us to be a family."

"I know," she smiled weakly at him. "Believe me I know. Derek you don't have to worry. You will have as much access to our daughter as you want." She tried to maintain her composure, she didn't want to cry. "But I can't marry you again." She bit her lower lip, "It just wouldn't be fair to any of us."

"Addie please you have to reconsider," he started to plead with her. "Fine we don't have to get married right now we can wait until after the baby is born, then we can talk about it."

"Okay," she said with a little nod. She already knew her answer was still going to be no, but she hoped to at least satisfy him for now. She took a moment to think about what she needed right now. She smiled when she realized what she wanted most in the world right now. Her mother's words echoed in her head _just remember if things get too crazy there you can always come home and have the baby here._ That was exactly what she needed, to go back to her parent's home and let them take care of her. There were no expectations held for her there and their love was unconditional. She really needed that right now. "Derek I need to go home." She closed her eyes and continued, "I'm tired and I just really need to go home." She would tell him later that what she really meant by home was back to the home she grew up in, and back home to have her mother and father take care of her for a little while.

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**I hope you enjoyed the update, once again please let me know what you think.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Recovery**

**Part XVIII**

Alex, George, Cristina and Meredith were all gathered around the nurse's station waiting for their assignments for the day. Izzie walked up behind the group on her way to get the lab reports for one of her patients.

"God why is Sloan in such a shitty mood today," Alex grumbled.

"Yeah Shepherd too," Cristina added.

"That's because Dr. Montgomery went to Colorado," Izzie informed them.

"So. . . Dr. Montgomery is gone?" George asked Izzie.

"Yeah I didn't get all the details, but she turned down Derek's marriage proposal and left for Colorado," Izzie replied.

"Damn I hope I don't get stuck with Shepherd today. I hate working with him when he is pissed off," Alex moaned.

"B . . . But is she coming back right?" George asked with concern.

"Wait a minute, Addison told Derek she wouldn't marry him?" Meredith asked with surprise. "What is that woman thinking she has to remarry him they are having a baby," she pursed her lips and shook her head. "How can she not marry him when that is what he wants?" Meredith was bewildered.

"Because he's an ass?" Alex said with a shrug.

Izzie furrowed her brow at Meredith, "Are you serious?"

George asked again, "She coming back right?"

Izzie turned to George, "Yes George she is coming back, after she has the baby."

"I can't believe she left, that is so unfair. Derek has the right to be there for the birth of his child," Meredith scowled and shook her head.

"She's not stopping him from being there," she frowned at Meredith. "She already told him he can come out for the birth. He either takes time off to go out there before hand or he waits and flies out after she goes into labor, it takes less then three hours to fly there."

"Still, why does she always have to make everything so difficult?" Meredith said angrily.

"God Meredith get over it," Cristina said shaking her head. "This has nothing to do with you," she gave Meredith a playful shove. "I say Meredith gets Shepherd today all in favorite raise your hand."

All the residents laughed and raised their hand, except for Meredith.

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"I still don't get it," Derek complained to Miranda.

Miranda looked perplexed at the man standing before her, "What the hell don't you get?"

"Why she refused to marry me," he shook his head, "And ran off to Colorado."

She raised her eyebrows and shook her head at the idiot standing before her, "Look Derek she needs some space and time." She narrowed her eyes at him, "Something you haven't been allowing her to have." She gave him a more sympathetic look hoping he would get a clue. "You know things have been hard for her here. Can you blame her for wanting to be with her parents right now? You of all people should know how close she is to them."

"Okay, okay I know you are right," he smiled at her sadly. "She is doing what is best for her, I get it are you happy?"

She gave him a small smile and smacked him on the shoulder, "Glad you finally get it." Miranda grinned at him, "By the way you get Grey as your resident today. Seems they voted and she lost."

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Alex walked up behind Mark who was going over a patient's chart. "So I guess I will have to buy my own oranges from now on," he grinned at the other doctor.

Mark chucked and closed the chart handing it back to the nurse behind the desk. "Yeah I guess you will," he gave him a feeble smile.

Mark's attention was then caught by something down the hall; Alex looked down the hall in the same direction and saw what caught his attention. Derek and Meredith laughing with one and another, it might be completely innocent, but you never know with those two.

Alex narrowed his eyes, he liked Sloan and he had to admit he liked Montgomery better when she was with Sloan instead of the dirt bag. "Look I know it's not any of my business," he shrugged, "But I worked with Dr. Montgomery for a while before she and Shepherd split up. There is no way she is going back to him."

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Derek was casually leaning against the wall chatting with Meredith. "So I hear you lost and got stuck with me," he grinned at her they both laughed.

"No I wanted Bailey to put me with you today," she gave him a small smile.

As he went over his list of patients she could tell something was weighing heavily on him his mind. Of course she knew what it was, when he finished going over everything she quietly said, "I heard about Addison turning down your proposal, she shouldn't have done that," she said sincerely.

"Well she just didn't want to get married while she was pregnant," he said with a shrug. "Besides she said she will still consider my proposal after the baby is born," he said with a smile. "All I have to do is wait. She will definitely want to marry me after she has the baby."

"That makes sense," of course she will want to marry him after the baby is born, she thought.

They headed down the hall toward the elevator. "So," Derek began "How are things going with you and Finn?"

"They're not," Meredith replied evenly giving him a sidelong glance as the elevator doors slide open. Derek raised his eyebrows at her and they both entered the elevator without another word.

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Addison sat curled up on a sofa reading in the sunroom, the snow had just started to gently fall. She had always loved the view from this room you could see the mountains in the distance in one direction and the city skyline in the other. Her father sat close by sitting in his large well worn dark leather chair, he was reading as well. She glanced up at him and she smiled, remembering how they always use to do this. It was her favorite way of spending with her father. They would sit quietly reading, and then after sometime passed one or the other would always strike up a conversation.

Marshall looked over the top of his book at his daughter; she had been here for two weeks now. He carefully watched her for a moment; she had been in a horrible mood that morning and she still seemed to be a little tense. She would talk to both Derek and Mark daily; it was very easy to tell by her mood which man she had talked. He cleared his throat and she glanced up at him, "Has Derek decided yet if he will come for Thanksgiving?"

"He's still hasn't decided," she sighed. "I wish he would make up his mind, his indecisiveness is really tiring sometimes." She shook her head slightly, "I specifically scheduled my next check up the Friday after figuring he would be here." Marshall rose from his seat walked over to her then sat on the sofa next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, she leaned her head on his shoulder. "How do mom and you do it?" she shook her head. "You were high school sweethearts and will be married 45 years this New Years, it just amazes me sometimes."

"No one ever said it was easy sweetheart," he knew that was part of the reason she had such a hard time letting go. "But both people in the marriage need to want it to work."

"I know I made mistakes but I really did try," she could feel the tears starting to threaten. "I just can't do it again," she couldn't hold them back anymore tears started to stream down her cheek. "He keeps telling me our child deserves a family, but doesn't our child deserve parents who are happy?"

"Look sweetheart," he leaned over and kissed the top of her head. "Not everyone is as lucky as your mother and I are. People don't always find the right person the first time around." He gave her a little hug. "I agree with you, a child is better off with two happy parents who are apart rather then two miserable ones who are together."

She furrowed her brow and looked up at him, "You don't think I gave up too easily?"

"No I don't," he pulled out a tissue and wiped the tears from her face. "You tried to salvage your marriage and it didn't work. There is no shame in trying, even if you ended up failing," he said sympathetically.

"So you don't think I'm being selfish refusing to marry Derek again?" she asked with raised eyebrows looking for his approval.

"I think you need to follow your heart, not your head," he smiled down at her. "You can never go wrong if you truly follow what your heart is telling you. I think there would have been a lot less hurt around here if someone else had done that."

"Maybe," she a small smile played on her face, she reached over took his hand and placed it on her stomach. They both smiled as the baby kicked, "But this is one time I don't regret his indecisiveness."

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**I hope you enjoyed the update, once again please let me know what you think.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Thanks for all the reviews it's really appreciated. Here's a new update, I hope you all enjoy.**

**Recovery **

**Part XIX**

Addie paced back and forth in the sunroom as she listened to Derek and his excuses. "Look Addison I'm sorry," he was exasperated she just didn't seem to get he had no control over the airlines. "I missed the last flight there is nothing I can do about it," Derek explained.

"Okay I get it Derek you won't be here for Thanksgiving, but what about Friday?" she said in frustration.

"No, all the flights are booked I can't get out of the city," he snapped.

"Derek I can't change my appointment," she cautioned him.

"Well if you didn't run off to Colorado that wouldn't be a problem now would it," he yelled into the phone.

"Look I'm sorry, but I can't talk to you when you are like this. I will talk to you tomorrow," she hung up the phone.

God he was so frustrating she was so sick of this situation. Of course he could have helped missing the flight. He was not the surgeon on call; Richard had made sure he had the time off. Derek chose to go into the hospital and take the case that was already assigned to another doctor.

Honestly she was relieved he wasn't going to be spending the holiday with them. What frustrated her most was the fact that she was allowing him to be involved in every aspect of their child's life and he wasn't even meeting her halfway. He continued to make her feel guilty about her choice to leave Seattle and have the baby in Colorado.

She rested her hand on her stomach feeling her daughter's kick, then leaned her forehead against the window and watched the snow falling. Was she being selfish?

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Derek stared at his dead phone; he couldn't believe she just hung up on him like that. Meredith watched with concern as he stormed down the hall and out of the hospital, she followed him out. She found him sitting on a bench with his head in his hands. She sat down next to him and gently placed her hand on his back. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

Derek straightened up and turned to look at her then gave her a little smile, "Just frustrated." Meredith raised her eyebrows. "I just got off the phone with Addison and needless to say she was not happy that I am stuck in Seattle for the holiday."

"You can't help an emergency came up," she said indignantly.

"Well she seems to think I could have helped it," he said with a shrug. He cocked his head and gave her another smile, "So what are your plans for Thanksgiving?"

"Spending most of the day at the hospital and then Izzie is planning on having everyone over in the evening for dinner," she smiled and her eyes crinkled, "She will kill us if we don't make it this year."

Derek sighed he probably will spend the day at the hospital and warm something up later that night when he got home.

Meredith thought about poor Derek having to spend the holiday alone, she didn't think it was fair. She already knew that Mark already left for Colorado and would be spending the holiday with Addison. Why should Derek have to spend it alone just because an emergency came up? She gave him a sidelong glance, "Do you want to come over for dinner tomorrow?" She said tentatively, "It's just that I'd hate to see you spend the holiday alone."

Derek's smile grew, "I'd love to come, thank you for inviting me."

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Izzie stood at the door her mouth slightly ajar as she looked at Derek standing in front of her with a bottle of wine in hand. "Well aren't you going to invite me in?" he inquired.

"I umm, I," Izzie stammered.

"Meredith invited me didn't she tell you?" he said raising his eyebrows.

"Oh I guess she forgot to mention it," she looked off to her side her eyes widened as they connected with Alex she saw his eyebrows rise then a smirk appeared on his face.

She then heard Meredith running down the stairs, "Invite him in already don't make him stand out in the cold." She waved Derek to come inside he slide past Izzie and gave Meredith a hug then handed her the bottle of wine.

Meredith and Derek entered the living room and he said his hellos to everyone.

Meredith took a seat next to Alex on the loveseat. Derek looked around trying to find a spot to sit, he spotted a chair in the corner and headed for it, but Alex jumped off the loveseat and claimed said chair. Derek shrugged and sat down next to Meredith. Callie and George sort of glared at him as he sat down next to Meredith; he gave them a weak smile.

Alex smirked at him and said, "Glad you could make it." Derek gave him a puzzled look.

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Benton's attention was caught by the cheerful laughter of his sister. She had been back home for more than a month now, this was the most relaxed he had seen her since her return home. She was sitting at a small table in the corner of the sunroom playing a game of chess with Mark. He could tell she was obviously winning by the raised eyebrow and smirk she was giving the groaning man sitting before her. Having lost the game Mark rose from his seat letting Aubrey take the vacated spot. Addie and Aubrey replaced the chess pieces on the board and Addie teased, "Oh good a real challenge this time."

Aubrey shook her head, "Yep I've gotten really good too, definitely a lot better then Mark," she giggled.

Mark feigned insult, "Hey I haven't played in over a year. I demand a rematch."

Addie laughed merrily at him. "Okay you can play the winner," she teased him.

Mark came up to Benton's side, "I think she was cheating," he said with a straight face.

"I heard that," Addie countered.

Mark cracked a smile and started to laugh. "Okay, okay I know you didn't cheat."

Addie gave him a quick nod. "Exactly, there was no need to cheat since you are so terrible," she laughed blithely.

Mark crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall he watched Addie with a smile on his face that reached his eyes. Benton looked over at the man standing next to him, he had been here for a week now and the transformation in Addie since his arrival was amazing, she had gone from being sullen to glowing. Derek's calls didn't even upset her since his arrival. He asked Mark, "Can you help me refresh everyone's drinks?"

Mark looked at Benton and shrugged. "Sure," he replied.

They took everyone's drink order and left the room. After they exited the room Benton stopped and turned toward Mark. "So what exactly are your intentions toward my sister?"

Mark looked the other man in the eye and stated simply, "To be the friend she needs right now." Mark knew Addie's family needed reassuring. He had hurt her once before but there was no way on this earth he would ever hurt her again. "I promise Ben I won't hurt her again," he said with sincerity.

Benton took a moment to study the man before him. He was sure he was sincere in his declaration, he also knew his sister very well. "You know she is in love with you," he raised an eyebrow watching the man's reaction. It amused him when the man in front of him flushed. For as long as he could remember Mark had been in love with his sister. The only problem it was never reciprocated, until now.

Mark was speechless, "I . . ." he swallowed hard, he wished more than anything on this earth that what Ben just told him was true. "I don't think she is ready to be in love with anyone right now Ben."

Ben smiled at the man in front of him, good answer he thought. He gave him a slight nod, "You're right she isn't ready to act on it right now, but that doesn't change the fact that she has fallen in love with you."

It had been a week since Thanksgiving, Izzie and Alex sat on the loveseat in the living room; they seemed to be very happy with themselves. George and Callie were there as well. Meredith had left for the hospital; it seemed she was picked to operate with Derek once again.

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"So what is going on?" George asked the two sitting on the loveseat.

"What?" Izzie replied innocently.

"You two pushing to get Meredith and Derek together," George replied.

"I don't have a clue what you are talking about," said Alex just as innocently.

"Cut the crap for the last week you both have done everything in your power to make sure they are thrown together," Callie retorted.

Izzie looked a bit taken aback then lowered her eyes. "Meredith is still in love with Derek," she said quietly.

Callie narrowed her eyes. "So Derek is still talking about marrying Addison why are you trying to ruin that poor woman's relationship again?" she shook her head at Izzie; she couldn't help but be judgmental. This wasn't a game; there were other people's lives involved.

Alex spoke up defending Izzie, "We are doing this for Addison not Meredith."

Callie raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Pushing the father of her child into the arms of another woman is helping her," she inquired, "How?"

"Actually I think they really are trying to help her," George spoke up, Alex nodded to George.

"Do you really want Addison to marry Derek again even though he is not in love with her?" Izzie asked with a little too much venom in her voice. "Besides Addison isn't in love with Derek either," she said with a shrug.

"And you know this how?" Callie asked again.

"Oh please why do you think she went to Colorado?" Izzie said rolling her eyes.

Callie sat back in her chair and considered what they had said and she realized they were making sense. She decided she would not interfere with their plans.

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Derek looked over at Meredith and smiled. He was glad they were friends again; he hated her not talking to him. She was one of the few people who understood him and how badly he wanted to marry Addison again. He was glad to have a friend who supported his decision to try to convince Addison to be a family again. For some reason most people seemed to be against his remarrying Addison again. He just couldn't understand why on earth they would be against him marrying the mother of his child. You would think they would all be happy for them and want them together.

Meredith returned Derek's smile, she was glad they could be friends again. She wanted to support him in his decision to marry Addison again. She thought his daughter deserved to grow up with both her mother and father as a family. She knew only too well what it was like to come from a broken home and she wouldn't wish that on any child. She only hoped Addison would come to her senses and finally agree to marry him. But if she never does come to her senses Meredith will be here to support her friend and help him through his troubles.

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Addison looked on smiling at Mark and her father; they were in a heated discussion. Mark preferred the American League and their designated hitter and her father preferred the National League. Her father felt the designated hitter ruined the game while Mark felt it only enhanced the game.

There was nothing her father liked more then having an intelligent discussion with someone who wasn't afraid to take an opposing view from him. She knew her father liked Mark. Of course it helped that they both agreed on more important issues of the world, but he also appreciated that he wasn't afraid to take an opposing view and have a good debate with him.

Addison finally interrupted their debate. "Okay guys enough baseball talk," she laughed at them. "Daddy, mom wanted me to let you know she is ready to go to Bertie and Wally's now," she grinned at him. Bertie and Wally were two of her parent's oldest friends. The four of them usually got together once a month.

"Thanks sweetheart," he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, "Are you sure you two don't want to come with?"

She returned the kiss on his cheek and smiled back at him then shook her head. "No Daddy you guys go ahead and have a good time. Just send them my love."

"Will do sweetheart and you two behave yourselves," he said with a wink.

After her father left, Mark wrapped his arm around her shoulder and asked, "So are you ready for a rematch?"

"Really?" she smirked at him. "You looking to get your ass kicked again?" she laughed.

"Hey," he sounded insulted. "I've been practicing." He grinned at her, "Aubrey has been giving me pointers."

"In that case you are on," she smiled up at him and wrapped her arm around his waist and snuggled into him as the walked along. He smiled down at her and kissed the top of her head.

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**I hope you enjoyed the update. Please let me know what you think.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Thanks for all the reviews it's really appreciated. I know it's been a while since I updated sincethis since I have been preoccupied with III,so here's a short update.**

**Recovery**

**Part XX**

The group of women gathered around the table, they were situated by a large window with a magnificent view of the Rocky Mountains. There was no denying these women were sisters, they shared similar features. They all had the same dark curly hair, though most if press would have to admit they artificially maintained the color of their youth and piercing blue eyes. All the women were of average height and maintained their fit look by taking care of themselves with healthy eating and exercise. They were all New Yorkers through and through and never understood their brother abandoning the lifestyle they had all grown up with. They were from a prominent New York family. Their father, who was retired, had been a well respected judge. The sisters had all followed in their father's footsteps and become attorneys and they had all married attorneys. Being a lawyer seemed to be a family birthright for generations, but once again their brother had chosen a different path and became a surgeon.

None had anticipated spending their New Year holiday in Denver, but here they were. Their baby brother, who was always full of surprises, had given them one of his biggest to date. Needless to say it came as quite a shock to them that their brother's ex-wife was expecting his child. Even more shocking was that fact that she was due any day now and they had just found out about it over Christmas breakfast.

There were five Shepherd children two years apart as you went down the line, four girls and one boy. The sisters in order were Maureen, who the oldest at forty-eight, she had been married for almost thirty years and had four children, three daughters and one son. She could never understand how her brother and his wife couldn't manage to fit a career and family into their lives. Next in line was Caitlin her husband was a congressman and she had given up her practice to support his political career. They had two sons and one daughter. Siobhan who had just been appointed a judgeship and her husband, who was currently running their law firm, had three children two girls and one boy. Finally Ryanne, who was the youngest of the girls, she and her husband had a very high profile law firm that specialized in criminal law. They were constantly in the news with one case or another, and they had two daughters. Ryanne's youngest daughter was fourteen and she was also the youngest of the grandchildren to date, but it seemed that was going to change very soon.

Maureen wasn't the only sister who had thought the biggest problem in Derek and Addison's marriage was the fact that they had always put off having children. They knew Derek and Addie had always wanted children, but for some reason it was always put on hold. They were always saying it isn't the right time. The sisters at one point had told Addie to just go ahead and do it. They knew he would be thrilled in the end, but she refused saying it wouldn't be fair having a child had to be something they were both ready for, they both needed to be committed to the idea of being a parent.

"So Derek says they will get married after the baby is born," Maureen said with a little suspicion. "If this is true, then why is she in Denver and not in Seattle?"

"That's a good question," Siobhan said. "I'd don't buy Addie won't get married because she wants to fit in some dress either."

"I think she's still pissed off at him," Ryanne added.

"What I don't get is why she didn't tell us she was pregnant?" Caitlin said.

"You're kidding right?" Maureen said with raised brows.

Caitlin shook her head and said, "Yeah right stupid question."

The sisters laughed and nodded. They all knew why she didn't say anything, besides the simple fact they were Derek's family and it should be up to him to tell them. Addie knew Derek's sisters well enough; they would have all been on the first plane to Seattle and harassed them until they got back together. Addie obviously needed to work out her feelings herself and not have them pressuring her to do what they wanted.

"So we know Addie divorced Derek because he couldn't get over that intern," Siobhan said. "Do you think they are still involved?"

"I think the intern dumped him when Addie dumped him," Ryanne said.

Maureen narrowed her eyes, "Damn I don't like the sound of that."

"Did you know that Mark moved to Seattle?" Caitlin added.

The sisters all nodded again. They had all kept in close contact with Addie and she seemed to have told them almost all that was going on in her life, except for the fact that she was pregnant and they were going to be an aunt.

"But they are just friends," Caitlin added.

"Not that she didn't try to make it more," Ryanne said then added with a grin, "That bastard, when did he get so smart?"

"Yeah that had to kill him to turn her down," laughed Siobhan.

All the sisters knew that Mark Sloan had been in love with their sister-in-law for as long as they could remember, but Addie had been oblivious to that fact. The fact that Addie turned to him when her marriage was at an all time low didn't surprise them either. They had all tried to warn their brother that his marriage was in trouble, but he just didn't hear what they were saying. They all tried to help Addie get over the rough patch, but Derek's indifference and absence was just too much for her to handle. Of course they were all pissed off about the affair. They all told her exactly what they thought about it. But in the end they figured eventually Derek and Addie would work things out. They knew Addie wasn't in love with Mark; she was in love with Derek.

Since they moved across country to try to work on their marriage, the sisters had only heard from Derek and Addie what their reconciliation was like, their versions were quite different. Derek would keep telling them they were working hard on getting back what they had. But Addie would tell them his heart wasn't in it that he was there because she was an obligation to him and he never forgave her. They all received a phone call from her after the divorce. She had been devastated by the end of her marriage, but she just couldn't continue trying when his heart so obviously belonged to someone else. She told them all she was going to try as hard as she could to stop loving their brother, because it was the only way she could survive. They had all waited for their brother to call with his version of the divorce, but that call never came.

"Do you think she really did learn to stop loving him?" Siobhan asked with concern. That would certainly explain why she wasn't jumping at the chance to remarry their brother.

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Addie couldn't believe how fast the month had flown. This time of year was always filled with so much shopping and seasonal cheer, and there simply wasn't enough time in a day to get everything done. Considering New Year's Eve was going to be her parent's forty-fifth wedding anniversary Derek had opted to come for that weekend instead of Christmas. He had spent the Christmas Holiday with his parents and sisters' families instead.

Addison sat in the sunroom feeling like a beached whale now that she was coming to the end of her pregnancy; she only wished to finally get it over with. She was tired, crabby and to top it off her parents were going to have a house full of guests tonight including her ex-husband and his five sisters. Derek had only told his family about the baby over Christmas. She shook her head as she thought about this. She really thought he would have told them long before, but in some ways she was grateful he waited. That meant more time before his sisters converged on her. They will probably be pissed off at her for not telling them; after all she talked to them all quite frequently. They had all arrived in Denver late last night and were due over any minute.

She was bracing herself, because they were more then likely going to push for her to marry Derek again. They all believed that even after the divorce that one day Derek would come to his senses and try to win her back.

Addie could hear the voices from down the hall; she took a deep breath and blew it out very slowly. She sat up straight and put a smile on her face. Whether she wanted to or not it was time to deal with her ex-sister-in-laws.

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**I hope you enjoyed the update, please review and let me know what you think and I'll be sure to update soon.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Recovery**

**Part XXI**

Derek's sisters burst into the sunroom with boisterous chattering. Addie attempted to rise from the loveseat, but they immediately surrounded her not allowing her to get up. They all took turns giving her hugs and of course making fun of how huge she had gotten.

"Oh my god you are huge," Maureen said wide eyed rubbing her tummy like she was Buddha.

"Seriously you really _are_ huge," Ryanne put in getting her turn to pat her tummy.

"Jesus Christ Addie, are you sure you are only having one?" Caitlin teased giving her a hug and a pat.

"I don't know Cat, I think she is much bigger then when I had the twins," Siobhan laughed moving Cat over so she could get her hug and pat in.

"I think Derek was holding out on us because there has to be three in there," Maureen grinned as she sat down next to her and rubbed her belly.

"Gee thanks guys I really appreciate how sensitive you all are," she grinned back at them. "And yes I'm positive it's only one. Knowing that kind of stuff is kind of my job," she shook her head, still laughing.

"Hey," Ryanne said, "We have to get six months of teasing into one afternoon!"

"Besides," added Siobhan, "We wouldn't tease you if we didn't love ya." They sisters all nodded.

"Yeah, yeah I love you guys too," she said with a laugh. Addie wasn't sure which was worse, having all four sisters ganging up on her at once or having them come at her one at a time. When Derek left her in New York, she had it out with each one individually and it wasn't pretty. At least this was a happy occasion. Though she still was dreading their confrontation about whether she would be marrying their brother. She didn't know how they would take it when she informed them she had no intention of marrying their brother again.

The sisters had agreed not to grill Addie right away about whether or not she planned on marrying their brother. They had already decided they had to take everything he told them with a grain of salt.

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Since Derek's sisters were visiting Addie today Mark decided to take Aubrey skiing that afternoon. He wanted to be as far away from that group as possible for as long as possible. Actually he practically thought of the women as his sisters too, but he had been on their bad side ever since his affair with Addie. He highly doubted they had changed their minds about him. It made him sad to think he lost their friendship as well.

It was a gorgeous sunny day, perfect weather to be on the ski slopes. He and Aubrey sat on the ski lift, their ski clad feet dangling as the lift moved along. She gave him a sidelong glance and asked, "So how much longer are you staying?"

"I don't know," he shook his head and said seriously, "I'll probably go back to Seattle after the baby is born."

"You aren't going to wait here until Aunt Addie is ready to go back to Seattle?" she said with surprise.

"Naw, she already told me she only plans on staying in Colorado for a month after she has the baby," he said with a smile. "And I have to get back to work. Richard has been very understanding, but once the baby is born he is going to want me back at work." Richard already told him he wanted him back in Seattle with in two days after Addie gets out of the hospital. He was right too, he was able to put off all his patients with elective surgeries, but they will only be put off for so long.

She thought about this for a moment. Yeah he should go back to Seattle and give Aunt Addie a chance to miss him, a grin appeared on her face as she thought about it, and then she would realize she's in love with him. She said happily with a nod, "Yeah, you definitely should go back to Seattle after the baby is born."

He feigned insult, "Are you getting sick of hanging out with me already?"

They hopped off the ski lift and glided across the top of the mountain, she grinned at him, "Definitely." Then she took off down the mountain "I'll race you down," she yelled as she skied past him.

He shook his head at her and laughed then headed down the mountain after her.

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Now that they were finishing up their lunch, the sisters knew it was time to finally discuss the matter of their brother. They had spent the last two hours catching up with Addie, but they completely avoided the subject of their brother. Now was the time to find out how Addison really felt about him.

"So," Maureen began. "Derek tells us you are going to get married again after the baby is born." They all carefully watched her reaction.

Oh god Addie thought, here we go. She closed her eyes and shook her head then quietly began, "He shouldn't have told you that."

"Why?" asked Ryanne.

"Because we are not getting married again," she said firmly, she didn't want there to be any mistake about how she felt.

"But he said you told him you would marry him after the baby was born," said Siobhan.

"No," Addie pursed her lips. "He asked me to consider his proposal again after the baby was born and," she sighed. "I only told him okay so he would leave me alone."

"But he still loves you," Maureen said with sincerity.

Addie shook her head. "He might love me, but he isn't in love with me." She looked at them and continued, "There's a difference you know?" she said with a shrug.

"But that's all he could talk about at Christmas, how you were going to get remarried and be a family again. He wants the three of you to be a family," Caitlin added.

"I know he wants us to be a family, and he will always be family to me, but I can't do this again." She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, "It wouldn't be fair to any of us."

"Why do you insist he isn't in love with you?" Ryanne said shaking her head.

"Because I know," said with exasperation, "I know Derek and I know I am not the one he is in love with."

"What does that mean?" said Maureen furrowing her brow.

"He is still in love with Meredith," she stated truthfully.

"What makes you think that?" Caitlin said narrowing her eyes.

"I might be here in Colorado, but I know full well what has been going on in Seattle during my absence," she informed them.

"What has Mark been telling you about our brother?" Siobhan asked fuming, "Because he has an ulterior motive."

"Mark has said nothing," she snapped back. Mark had refused to talk about Derek and what he had been up to in her absence. He felt it wasn't his place since they all had a history. "Besides, Mark has no idea what's been going on in Seattle. He has been here since Thanksgiving," she added with a nod.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Siobhan narrowed her eyes; she still did not believe that Mark wasn't trying to tell Addie things about Derek in order to keep them apart.

Addie had plenty of others in Seattle that were perfectly willing to let her know what was going on. Two of them being Miranda and Izzie both knew Addie had no intention of marrying Derek again. When she had made it clear to Izzie that she did not want to get back together with Derek, Izzie had confided in her that Meredith was still in love with Derek. She was surprised by the sense of relief that had come over her when she found that out. It was then she finally realized she was no longer in love with Derek either. Sure she loved him and wanted him to be a part of her daughter's life, but she was not in love with him anymore. She was fully aware of Izzie and Alex's plan to try and put Derek and Meredith together and they had her approval.

"Just that Derek and Meredith started up their friendship again," she said with an ever so small smile on her face.

"Why are you just giving up and not even trying? He wants to get married again and make things work." Siobhan narrowed her eyes and shook her head, and then it dawned on her, "Oh my god, you want them back together!"

Addie bit her lower lip, Siobhan was right, she did want them together. She kept silent.

The sisters all were staring at her, they finally were getting it. Their dipshit brother finally managed to do it; he had managed to make Addison fall out of love with him. They all exchanged looks; they all knew they had come to the same conclusion.

Maureen looked Addie straight in the eye and said, "You aren't in love with Derek anymore are you?" It was asked as a question, but it really was not a question, it was a simple fact and all the women in the room knew it.

Addie looked the women over; she could see the disappointment on all their faces. She loved them all dearly and hoped they would forever be a part of her life, but she wasn't sure how they were going to feel about her knowing she wasn't in love with their brother anymore. She shook her head and looked at them sadly. "No," she said with a weak smile, "I'm not in love with Derek anymore."

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Derek was a little nervous about seeing Addison, this is the first time they would be seeing each other since she left Seattle and came out to Colorado. He decided not to go to Addison's parent with his sisters, but instead to wait to give his sisters time with Addison before heading out to her parent's house. He didn't want to be there for their initial grilling.

He hoped they had finished questioning her about when she planned on marrying him, because he figured once they talked to her she might even be willing to marry him tonight. He smirked, she had to like the idea of getting remarried on her parent's anniversary. Plus both their families would be able to attend.

Derek walked into the dining room; Addison and his sisters were sitting around the table, it looked like they had recently finished their lunch. A smile appeared on his face and he said, "Good afternoon ladies."

He smiled at Addison and walked over and gave her a hug and a kiss, she turned her head so he kissed her on the cheek. His sisters watched the interaction between the two with a great deal of interest. He took a seat next to her, and then looked toward her belly and his eyes widened and he grinned. He reached out and gently put his hand on her belly, then leaned forward whispered something to her stomach and placed a kiss on it. That made her smile; she knew she didn't have to worry about him being there for their daughter, even if they were not going to be together. She sighed; she really needed to have a serious talk with Derek.

It didn't take long after seeing Addison and Derek in the same room for the first time in more then a year and half for the sisters to realize they were not the same couple anymore. Yes they could see how happy they both were about their daughter, but studying the couple they had to admit something was missing. It made them sad to realize Derek and Addison would never get back what they once had. Derek scanned the room and decided now as a good a time as any to ask Addie to married him. He turned to her and took her hand, when he looked toward her belly his eyes light up. It was unmistakable to those in the room; it was only the baby that made him light up. He cleared his throat and began, "Addison I was thinking." He paused looking up at her, "Since your family and my family are both here, we should. . .'

Addie's eyes widened and she stopped him, "Derek, please don't. . ."

"Please don't?" he furrowed his brow.

She rose from the table and looked down on him. "We need to talk Derek, and in private." She looked at the sisters; she could see they were all uncomfortable to be witnessing this exchange.

She held her hand out to Derek and he slowly rose from the table taking her hand, she then led him out of the room.

The sisters exchanged looks, they were all relieved Addie had the sense to stop him and take their conversation in private.

"Do you think she is right about this Meredith Grey person?" Siobhan asked.

"I don't know," Maureen said.

"Does it really matter?" Ryanne asked.

"No," Caitlyn sighed. "I guess it doesn't."

No, Derek's feelings for Meredith didn't really matter, because what did matter was the fact that Addison was no longer in love with their brother and it was painfully clear to them, even if their brother seemed to be clueless. The other thing that was clear was that their brother wasn't in love with Addison either, he was in love with their daughter.

It was hard for them to understand how he couldn't see it, it was painfully obvious even after a few minutes with them being in the same room that there connection was gone. They guessed he was just so focused on his daughter he didn't want to see that Addison and his relationship was over.

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Addie led Derek up to her bedroom suite, he smiled as he realized where she was taking him and when they entered the room he pulled her into his arms, he kissed the top of her head, "I think we should get married tonight" he said with a smile.

She pulled herself out of his arms and walked over to the windows. She looked out over the snow covered landscape, trying to figure out how to tell him how she felt. Of course she knew he was going to do this, she had prepared herself for it, but it didn't make it any easier.

She turned back toward him, he looked at her expectantly. "Derek," she began, "We cannot get married." She watched the smile fall from his face. She walked over to him and reached up and caressed his cheek. "Derek," she looked at him caringly. "We have to be honest about our feelings."

He furrowed his brow and said, "But I am I want us to get married."

She nodded at him. "I know that's what you want, but why?" she gave a little shrug.

"We are having a baby, she needs both her parents," he insisted.

She tilted her head and smiled at him, "She is going to have both her parents whether we get married or not."

"But. . ." Addie reached up and gently placed two fingers to his lips to stop him.

"Our daughter deserves to have two parents who are happy. If we get married again she will not have that." She looked deep into his eyes, "Now be honest, we both you know are not in love with me."

"But I do love you Addison," he insisted.

She smiled and shook her head slightly, "And I love you Derek, but," she took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye, "I am not in love with you." She already knew she wasn't in love with Derek anymore, but it still surprised her she could look him in the eye and say it out loud. She could tell it surprised him as well. "Now be honest Derek, be honest to both of us, you are not in love with me either."

He looked into her eyes, searching them and he could see what she had told him was true; she honestly was not in love with him anymore. The most shocking part of her admission was the fact that it didn't hurt him. His heart should be searing with the pain of that admission, but it wasn't. As a matter of fact, a sense of relief came over him. He started to give her a little nod and said, "Yeah, you are right I do love you, but I am not in love with you."

Then he thought about his daughter and he could feel the back of his eyes burn, what did this mean for his daughter? Addie could see the change in his demeanor and knew exactly what he was thinking, "Derek you don't have to worry about our daughter. You will always be an important part of her life. You are her father and she is going to need you." She took his hand and placed it on her belly and held it tight in place. They both smiled as she kicked. She looked up at him and her smile grew. "Our daughter is going to be lucky because she will have both her parents. They are both going to be happy and they are going to be great friends."

He his smile grew too. "Yeah," he said with a nod. "Her parents are going to be great friends."

He gently wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. Even though they both knew this was for the best, they couldn't help but cry. They both knew they had lost something special and it was finally time to mourn that loss.

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**Well I hope you all enjoyed the update. Please review and let me know what you think.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Recovery **

**Part XXII**

The party was in full swing and the ballroom was filled to capacity, Mark had a hard time at first finding Addie, but he finally found her across the room. She and Derek were together laughing with his sisters. He stood there stunned taking in the scene; he bowed his head and turned to leave the room.

Addie turned her head in time to see Mark leaving the room; she excused herself from Derek and his sisters and went out to find him. She was pretty sure she knew where he would be and she was right, he was sitting in the sunroom. He sat on the loveseat with his head in his hands. She stood at the entrance for a moment tilted her head and watched him for a bit before entering. She crossed the room and sat down next to him. She placed a hand on his back and said quietly, "Hey I almost thought you weren't going to show."

He didn't look up at her and said with a strained voice, "I wish I hadn't."

"It's not what you think," she said gently.

He turned to look at her, she could see he had been crying, "And what do I think?"

"Derek and I are not together Mark," she reached out and took his hand. "We finally talked and both realized that we don't belong together anymore." She took a deep breath and exhaled, "But he is still going to be a very important part of my life. He's my daughter's father so he will always be a big part of our lives. We will always be friends," she said with a shrug.

His features started to relax as he took in what she just told him, "Friends, you aren't going to remarry him?"

"I'm not going to remarry Derek," she said with a nod. "I finally can say with certainty that I am not in love with Derek," she could see a small smile appear on his face, "But that doesn't mean I'm ready to move on yet."

He sat back in the loveseat as he took in what she was saying, "I don't want to force you into another relationship Addie."

"Good," she smiled at him, "Because I'm not ready, but that doesn't mean I don't want you to be a part of my life." Then she looked more serious, "And I don't know if I will ever be ready for more then friendship with you. I just don't know where my head is at right now where you are concerned. I've been too busy the last two months trying to sort out my feelings for Derek." She smiled at him and tilted her head, "So no pressure okay?"

He sat up and squeezed her hand and nodded. "No pressure." He smiled at her then asked, "Is Derek staying until the baby is born?"

She gave him a big smile and nodded, "Yeah he is going to stay until I'm ready to go back to Seattle."

He studied her for a moment and thought about what he needed to do, "I think I should go back to Seattle."

She furrowed her brow, "Before the baby is born?"

He nodded. "I think this is something you and Derek should do alone." Then he grinned at her, "Beside Richard has been riding my ass about getting back to work."

She smiled back at him and nodded. "Yeah I think you're right," she rested her hand on her stomach feeling her daughter kick. "Thank you, it really means a lot to me that you understand."

He sat up getting ready to rise from the loveseat, "I think I'm going to head out, I need to get my things together if I'm leaving tomorrow."

Addie raised her eyebrows in surprise, and then held him in place by holding on to his hand, "You already have a flight out?"

A serious look came over his face and he gave her a short nod, "I thought there would be a chance you wouldn't want me here when Derek arrived."

She pursed her lips then leaned over and gave him a hug. "It's not that I don't want you here," she broke away and looked him in the eye and gave him a serious look. "You understand why, right?"

He smiled at her and nodded. "Yeah and don't worry I'm okay with it, I know this is best for you."

"Can you stay a little longer?" she said as he leaned into him and snuggled up to him.

He put his arms around her and rested his cheek on top of her head. "Yeah I'll stay a little longer," he closed his eyes, happy to have her in his arms for just a little while.

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It was very early in the morning on January 3rd the ringing from the telephone woke Mark up. He smiled groggily, only one person would call him at this time. "Mark its Derek." He could hear the excitement in the other man's voice that could only mean one thing, Addie finally had the baby. "It's a girl, 7lbs 8oz, 20 inches born at 3:46 a.m." Mark glanced at his alarm clock and smiled, Derek must have called him first.

"And does she have a name yet?" Mark grinned into the phone he could hear Derek and Addie arguing back and forth for a couple of minutes before Derek returned to the phone.

"Madeline Aileen Montgomery-Shepherd," Mark smiled, after both their mothers; he guessed the arguing was over which mother would get top billing.

"Congratulations Derek give Addie and Madeline both a hug and kiss for me," he grinned, he couldn't help himself.

"I will," he assured him.

"Okay I'm going to let you go, because I'm sure you have more phone calls to make," he said still grinning ear to ear about the news.

"Yeah I do, I'll see you in a few of weeks," he said then with that he hung up the phone.

That phone call happened three weeks ago, now Mark paced back and forth in front of the gate waiting for Addie, Derek and Madeline. The plane had already landed and was at the gate they were just taking their sweet time allowing the passengers to disembark. He was pretty excited they decided to come home as soon as the doctors cleared Addison and Maddie to fly. She had told him now that the baby was here, her parents' hovering was starting to get to her and she was really starting to miss her own home and her friends.

Finally he could see the doors open and almost immediately he saw them, a huge grin appeared on his face as they moved toward him. Derek had his hands full with the car seat and their carry on bags, while Addie held Maddie in her arms. He smiled down at the little girl with her red curls, she was sleeping soundly, and then he leaned over and gave Addie a kiss on her cheek and a small hug. "She beautiful," he said with a silly grin on his face. He reached out and took a couple of the carry on bags from Derek, "Do you have a lot of luggage?"

Derek's eyes widened and he laughed, "What do you think?"

Mark shook his head and laughed, "Maybe I should have brought a bigger car." Mark and Derek gave each other a quick manly embrace; they had finally managed work their way back to being friends again, which was no small feat.

"Oh stop it, it isn't that bad," Addie said shaking her head grinning at them.

Addie watched the two men before her; it was nice seeing them acting like friends again. It took a lot of doing, but Derek and Mark knew both men were going to be a significant part of Madeline's life and knew they had to get past the hurt. Before Mark had left Denver, he and Derek had a long talk clearing up their problems with one and other. They already had most of the ground work laid, thanks to Bailey kicking their asses. So it was finally time to put the past behind them. Derek and Addie had moved on, it only seemed right that Derek and Mark should move on too.

They finally loaded up the car and had Madeline securely strapped into her car seat. Addie sat in the back with the baby with Mark and Derek in the front. It was a crisp night and the roads were now clear, it had snowed the night before, so the snow still shone white on the landscape and the trees glistened. They all chatted happily about what remarkable things Maddie had accomplished in her eighteens days. None of them were expecting it when the bright lights headed for them; a car ran a red light and smashed into the driver's side door. The impact spun the car around several times before it finally came to a halt. It was eerily silent after the loud metal crunching and tearing sounds. After a moment all that could be heard were the sirens in the distance and the small cries of an infant. Bystanders quickly started gathering around the wrecks, trying to see the extent of damage between the two vehicles.

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	23. Chapter 23

**I know, I know I left off last time with an evil cliffhanger, but I finally updated.**

**Recovery**

**Part XXIII**

The residents stood in front of the doors for the emergency room, they had incoming from a two car crash four adults and one minor were incoming. It had already been determined Izzie would take the infant.

The medics entered the ER with the infant first; Izzie hurried them into curtain three the two week old infant had been involved in a car crash. She quickly assessed her condition. By all accounts she was perfectly fine, she would order tests to make certain, but she smiled with relief the child didn't have a mark on her. Thank god for child safety seats she thought to herself, "Do we have a name, and where are the parents?"

The medic looked up at her and said, "No names and the adults in the car should be arriving shortly by ambulance."

"Do we know their condition?" she asked as she looked down at the tiny girl and gentle caressed her cheek.

"As far as I know they were all unconscious," the medic informed her.

She gave the medic a small nod as she looked sadly down at her small patient. A sad smile appeared on her face and she whispered, "Let's hope your mommy and daddy are okay."

Cristina, Meredith, George and Alex waited at the emergency room doors for the next incoming, the door crashed open revealing the man on the gurney was none other then Derek. Meredith rushed to his side, and looked to the medic to get his stats. Alex, George and Cristina stood back in shock, knowing it was only a matter of time before Addison and Mark would be coming through those doors.

Derek was now conscious and struggling to sit up, he looked up at Meredith, who was holding him down and he barely managed to get out with a whisper, "I need to know how they are."

She nodded down at him as she guided him to a curtain one, "Don't worry Derek we will find out how they are. We need to make sure you are okay first."

The three remaining interns looked to one and another deciding who would take Addison and who would take Mark, the doors opened again revealing a very distraught Addison on the gurney demanding to be brought to her daughter. George smiled with relief; she had to be okay if she had enough energy to be making demands. He quickly moved to her side, getting her stats from the medics then wheeling to her the curtain her daughter was already in.

Izzie could hear the commotion outside her curtain, the parents must have arrived. George poked his head in and she looked up at him then she asked, "Was that the parents?"

George nodded. "Your patient's mom is insisting on seeing her daughter," she smiled at him with relief.

"Bring her in," she said as she watched George wheeled the gurney into the curtain. Her eyes widened at the sight of Addison. "Addison," she exclaimed, she saw the tears in her eyes then she looked toward the baby then she looked back. "She fine Addison," she said with a nod. "She not injured, I promise."

Relief spread over Addie as George wheeled her next to her daughter so she could see for herself that her daughter was fine. She tried to sit up, but grimaced in pain. George shook his head and said gently. "Hold on Addison I think we need a couple of x-rays," she laid back on the gurney trying to control her emotions she was so relieved Maddie was okay.

But what about Mark and Derek, she didn't come to until she was in the ambulance so she had no clue how they were. She closed her eyes trying not to think the worst then heard Derek's voice. A rush of relief filled her as she realized he had to be okay she opened her eyes and watched him moving toward her. He was immediately by her side and stroked her hair. "Thank god you are both okay, I don't know what I would have done if something happened to either one of you."

He attempt to reach out and to touch Madeline with his other hand, but grimaced in pain. George shook his head then said, "Another one who needs x-rays."

Meredith entered the curtain at this time. "Derek I need to finish your exam and you need to go to x-ray," she said in frustration.

He looked up at her pleading in his eyes. "Can't you do that here?" he looked over to his daughter then back to Addie.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Fine," she said giving up.

Madeline started to cry and Addie tried to get up again and inhaled sharply. Derek furrowed his brow and helped her into a sitting potion.

George looked at them and shook his head in frustration, "Y . . . you shouldn't be trying to move around. You should both be getting checked out to make sure what your injuries are," he frowned at them hold his hands up. "Just stop now please." They both ignored George. Addie inhaled deeply and slowly let out her breath, she paused a moment then stood. Derek helped her to their daughter's side. They both reached out to calm her down, which she did almost immediately upon their touch.

Addie looked from George to Meredith the worry showing on her face, "Have they brought Mark in yet?"

"No," Meredith said with a shake of her head. "Alex and Cristina are still waiting on the next ambulance."

Addie bit her lower lip and closed her eyes trying not to think about his condition. Derek edged closer to her and kissed her lightly on the side of her head. He could feel her trembling next to him, and knew just how worried she was about Mark. He was worried too, but if he was seriously injured they would have gotten him to the hospital before them, right?

Alex and Cristina breathed a sigh of relief when the doors to the emergency room opened again, but that relief was short lived when they noticed the man on the stretcher was not Mark, but some man obviously drunk who was handcuffed to the gurney with a police escort. The man was raging about being mistreated, but the police didn't want to hear any of it. Alex looked from the medics to the cops, "When is the next ambulance due? There was one more adult in the other car, right?"

The police officers looked at each other then to the doctor, "There won't be any other transports."

Alex and Cristina exchanged looks, that can't be right Mark was still out there, "Did they transport the last victim to another hospital?"

The first officer narrowed his eyes. "I'm sorry Dr." he read his name tag, "Karev, there was no one else to transport."

Alex shook his head in frustration, they all knew Mark picked Derek and Addison up from the airport, and the initial report had said four adults. "They reported four adults for transport we only received three."

The police officers exchanged looks again and the first officer pursed his lips the gruffly said, "The forth adult was DOA; he was taken by the coroner."

Alex felt like he had been punched in the stomach. He looked down at the drunk before him and reached for him, he threw a fist back to punch him but his arm was grabbed one of the police officers. They held Alex back and said, "Get this guy out of here and examined so he can be released to our custody."

Cristina and the medics quickly wheeled the drunk to an open curtain.

Alex was still being restrained by the police and one said, "The man is going to jail; there is no need for you to go to jail too." He narrowed his eyes at the young doctor, "I take you knew the victim?" Alex lowered his head and nodded, the officers released him from their grip. "I'm sorry," the officer went on, "But you attacking that man isn't going to help anyone, you understand?"

Alex nodded again then he asked in a hoarse voice, "Are you sure Dr. Sloan is dead?"

The older officer reached up and clapped his hand on his shoulder and shook his head. "I'm sorry son, but Dr. Sloan was killed upon impact there was nothing anyone could do for him."

"Do Dr. Montgomery and Dr. Shepherd know yet?" he asked uneasily.

The officer shook his head and said, "No, they were still unconscious when they were transported from the scene. Would you like us to inform them?"

He shook his head, he didn't want them finding out from cops. He could feel the back of his eyes burn, he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "No, I will tell them," he turned from them and walked to the curtain he knew both Addison and Derek were in.

He stopped in front of the curtain trying to compose himself. Come on you wimp, he thought to himself, get it together. He entered and looked directly at Addison. "I'm sorry," he said after entering. He had everyone's attention, his mouth went dry he didn't know if he could go on. He only looked at Addison and he could see her expression change as she watched him, she could see the trouble he was having continuing. He could see her shaking her head and mouthing the word no, "I'm so sorry Addie, but Mark didn't make it."

He watched her as the news sunk in. She took a step back shaking her head whispering, "No," over and over until she slowly crumpled to the ground sobbing. George and Derek were quickly at her side and they lifted her back to the gurney. Derek sat on the gurney next to her allowing her to sob into his shoulder; he just held her tight to him gently stroking her hair. The rest stood by stunned not sure how to react to what Alex had just told them.

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Derek ended up having a broken collar bone, two cracked ribs and a mild concussion. He was released from the hospital immediately at his instance. Addison also had a broken collar bone and suffered a mild concussion, but they kept her at the hospital since they wanted to keep Maddie in over night for observation.

Derek knew Addie would be released tomorrow, so he asked Alex and George to go with him to retrieve their luggage from the car so she wouldn't have to deal with it. Derek took a deep breath as he unlocked the door to Addison's home. He had never been inside before. He furrowed his brow as he thought about her accusation all those months ago. She considered this her home and she was right, he never once stepped foot inside. He didn't think once about what she wanted, he only thought about himself.

He slowly opened the door and entered her home. He walked from room to room taking in where Addison had considered home. He smiled as he entered the great room. The floor to ceiling windows and great view reminded him of the sunroom at her family's home. He always knew that was her favorite room, he imagined her sitting in the large over stuff chair in the corner reading. Then he imagined her sitting there with their daughter and a smile grew on his face. His thoughts were interrupted by George. "Where do you want us to put these?" he asked indicating the bags he was carrying.

Derek looked up the stairs. "I guess her bedroom," he smiled. "I'm not sure which bags are hers and which are Maddie's. We can figure it out up there."

George and Alex carried the luggage upstairs to the master bedroom. When Derek entered the master bedroom, the first thing he noticed was the furniture was new. That brought a sad smile to his face. Addie had furnished the rest of the house with their belonging from New York, but this room had all new furniture. It seemed neither one wanted the memories it would bring back.

He carefully opened each bag then indicated which room it belonged in. Alex and George took the bags belonging to Maddie into the nursery, while Derek unpacked Addie's bags. He looked around the room as he unpacked. It was surprised at how easy it was for him to put her belongings away. The furniture might have changed, but Addie didn't change how she did things. He quickly put her belongings away.

When he finished putting her things away, he walked across the room to the windows. She had an amazing view from this room as well, he could understand how she had fallen in love with this house and had made it her home. He really needed to apologize to her for being such an insensitive ass.

He left the room to check on Alex and George's progress, he hoped they were finished because he wanted to get back to the hospital so he could check on Addie and Maddie. He knew in his head they were both fine that they were only staying over night as a precaution, but he needed to see them regardless.

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Derek entered Addie's hospital room. "Hey," he said as he walked over to sit next to her on the bed. He reached out to take her hand, "How are you doing?"

Addie sat propped up in bed, she was still pale and he could tell she had been crying. "Mmm," she said with a slight shake of her head a sad smile played on her face as the tears threatened to fall again. "I don't even know how to begin to answer that question."

He looked at her seriously. "Addie I know how special Mark was to you," he could feel the back of his eyes burn. He was shocked to realize how much he was going to miss him too, even after everything they had been through. They had finally worked out their problems.

Addie turned her head and swiped away the tears, "He was so patient with me and I never was able to figure out what I wanted from him." The tears started to flow freely down her face. "He should have picked someone else to love, someone who would have loved him back no questions."

"Addie," Derek said his tone laced with concern, he reached out and gently squeezed her arm. "You of all people should know we can't always control who we love." He titled his head and his look softened then he continued, "Even if you weren't ready to admit it, everyone could see you were in love with Mark too. Maybe you didn't tell him, but I think he knew too."

She wrapped her arms tightly around her knees and whispered, "I'm going to miss him."

Derek leaned over wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on top of her then said, "I know." Then he whispered in her ear, "I promise I'm going to help you through this. I'm not going anywhere."

She pulled back from him and looked him seriously in the eye. "Derek I don't want you to put your life on hold because of me." She furrowed her brow, "Just because I lost Mark doesn't mean things have changed between us." Then she said seriously, "Promise me you won't put your life on hold, you need to promise me that."

He gave her a sad smile and shook his head. "Addie we are friends," he reached out and tweaked her nose. "I know it's nothing more then that. I just want you to know I'll be here to support you and Maddie." Then he grinned at her, "I promise you and Maddie won't interfere with me moving on with my life."

"Thank you," she sighed with relief. "I don't think I could take it if I screwed up anymore people's lives right now."

He pulled her tight against him and whispered. "Hey." He kissed the side of her head, "You haven't screwed up anyone's life."

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**I hope you enjoyed the update, please review and let me know what you think.**


	24. Chapter 24

**This was a really hard chapter to write, and now I make a note to myself don't write angsty shit at work unless you enjoy having customers walk in seeing you all teary eyed grin **

**Recovery**

**Part XXIV**

Addie stood in almost a trance in the great room of her home staring out the window. She kept wishing this was some horrible dream and someone would finally pull her out of the nightmare and Mark would be standing next to her grinning at her. But that wasn't going to happen, four days had passed and she was definitely wide awake. Mark's sister Maggie was the one who stood next to her instead. She glanced over at the tall blonde next to her. She knew as hard as this was on her it was even harder on Maggie, she was devastated to lose her older brother and only living relative.

Maggie stood by Addie thinking about her brother's memorial service. She was taken aback by how affected they had all by the loss of her brother. She was really glad Addie had talked her into having a memorial service in Seattle. She was touched by all the people whose lives seemed to have been affected in a positive way by her brother in such a short time.

Maggie took a deep breath and sighed then wrapped an arm around Addie's waist. She leaned her head on her shoulder and said quietly, "He was really happy Addie. I talked to him that morning and I don't think I've ever heard him happier in his life."

Addie listened and took in what she told her and the tears started to fall again, she hated to cry but she had no control over it. "He should have stayed in New York I should have never called him," she said in a low whisper.

"Addie," she said almost in a pleading manner. "Mark could never have stayed away. He wanted to be here with you." She turned to her, "You know when he first came here I was mad at him. I told him you were only going to hurt him again, but I was wrong. You made him happy."

A hoarse laugh escaped her lips, "How could I have made him happy, he put is life on hold while I tried to figure out what the hell I wanted. He should have stayed in New York and let me figure it out on my own, and then he wouldn't have died."

"Addie," she intoned. "He didn't die because he chose to be with you." She furrowed her brow and continued, "He died because some asshole decided it was a good idea to drive drunk. That could have happened anywhere at anytime."

"He deserved better, he deserved someone who loved him with their entire heart and soul."

She shook her head at Addie and sighed, it was so evident to anyone who had seen Addie and Mark together she was in love with him. She had spent Christmas with them and could see it herself. Addie just needed at little more time to admit it to herself. They were all sure once she was back in Seattle she would finally be ready to move forward and start a real relationship with Mark. Unfortunately for them some asshole drunk took that chance away from them.

"Hey," she said softly. "I know you feel guilty for not telling him you were in love him but Addie." She nodded as the tears started to well up in her eyes. "He knew," she rested her forehead on Addie's. She gave her a tight lip smile and whispered, "He knew how you felt, so stop beating yourself up for not telling him."

Her tears started to flow faster and she let Maggie pull her into a hug. "I really was in love him," she cried.

"I know," she comforted her, "And he knew too."

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Aubrey stood in her aunt's backyard, it was cold and the snow on the ground crunched beneath her feet as she walked to the edge of the yard. She gazed out at the lake in the distance. She liked the feel of the cold because it made her feel numb and right now that was a good thing. How could Mark be dead it wasn't fair he was supposed to be here for her aunt and her cousin. They were going to be together and they were going to finally be happy. She stiffened as she heard the crunching of the snow behind her. Someone was coming to make her go inside. She frowned; she wasn't ready to go inside yet.

"Aubrey," Derek said softly as he gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "You need to come inside. It's too cold to be out here."

She stiffened when it registered who it was and she turned to him with tears streaming down her face. "Why Mark, why couldn't it be you?" she screamed through a sob.

He gave her a sad smile. "I know how much you loved Mark and how much you are going to miss him. I'm going to miss him too."

She narrowed her eyes at him not believing him, "You aren't going to miss him. If anything you are probably glad he is gone," she said angrily.

He tried to pull her into his arms, but she started to pound his chest with her fists. He winced with pain, but didn't really care because he knew she needed to get her anger out. "I really am going to miss him. After all this time we finally were able to get past everything and be friends again. Aubrey I hope you can believe me because it's true I am going to miss Mark and right now I honestly don't know how Addie is going to get through this," his voice cracked and tears started to fall down his face. "He was my best friend for as long as I can remember. I finally got my friend back and now he's gone forever."

Aubrey pushed away and looked up at Derek and saw the tears, she swallowed hard and hiccupped then managed to squeak out, "You really are going to miss him aren't you?" She leaned into him allowing him to wrap his arms around her; he rubbed her back and gently stroked the back of her hair.

He nodded and whispered, "I am." He smiled sadly, "I know I've been a complete ass the last few years, but I know you can remember how much fun we all use to have together." She nodded into his shoulder still crying. "You were right about me last summer. I was selfish and I wasn't good enough for Addie." She looked up at him with surprise. "I finally realize what a prick I have been and I wanted to thank you for pointing that out to me."

She grinned at him through her tears she laughed in spite of herself. "You should watch your language." Then she added with a waiver in her voice, "I'm always happy to point out when you are acting like a prick."

That made him chuckle. He took a deep breath willing the tears to stop. "I promise you I will not do anything again to hurt her. I promise you I will be here as her friend, because I know she is going to need that right now."

She nodded into his chest again then quietly said, "Thank you Uncle Derek." Then she sighed and added, "I really don't wish it was you. I just wish it was no one."

"I know squirt, I know." He hugged her tighter then whispered, "We are all going to miss him." He smiled down at her then asked, "Now how about we go inside and get you some hot chocolate and warm you up."

She looked up at him with a sad smile on her face and nodded, "Okay I'd like that."

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Izzie and Alex sat on the sofa in Meredith's living room. They were both still in shock that Mark was gone. They had both become close to him during his time at Seattle Grace. Alex studied Izzie's profile she was trying so hard not to cry. Alex pursed his lips then put his arm around Izzie and pulled her close to his side then whispered, "You know its okay to cry."

She nodded and let the tears fall. "This wasn't supposed to happen." She turned and looked up in Alex's eyes, "I just keep remembering him that morning and how excited he was that Addie and Maddie were finally coming home."

"I'm in love with you Izzie," Alex whispered.

"I just can't believe that he won't be. . ." her eyes widened as it registered what he had just said. "I . . . Alex."

"What happened to Mark made me realize I had to let you know how I feel," he said with sincerity.

"Alex I. . ." she really wasn't sure how to respond but Alex interrupted her.

"You don't have to say anything Izzie." He gave her a half smile and said softly, "I just wanted you to know how I feel."

She furrowed her brow studying him then bit her lower lip, a large smile grew on her face as she realized what she wanted to say to him. "I'm in love with you too Alex," she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

He pulled back and looked her in the eyes and whispered, "Really?"

She nodded then he leaned in resting his forehead on hers and kissed her softly on the lips.

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Derek stood at the front of the ferry boat, the wind was whipping through his hair and the cold was biting his skin. He gazed out across the water and remembered New Year's Eve.

_He leaned against the wall watching Addison and Mark dancing. He tilted his head and really studied them, and a half smile appeared on his lips as he watched them glide across the dance floor. A small laugh passed his lips he recognized the look. He had seen it on Addie's face many times before, but before that look was reserved strictly for him. He knew exactly why she could look him in the eye and tell him she was no longer in love with him. It was because she had fallen in love with Mark and Mark was every bit as much in love with her._

_Derek walked up to the couple and tapped her on the shoulder. "Do you mind if I cut in?" He could see the slight disappointment on her face then she nodded. "Thank you," he said then he put his arm around Mark's shoulder and said, "I want to talk to you." And he guided him off the floor and out of the ballroom. Addie stood in the middle of the floor shaking her head laughing at the retreating pair._

_Derek and Mark entered the Sunroom, he turned and faced Mark, "I just have one thing to say." He looked at Mark seriously, "Make her happy."_

_Mark was stunned he never really expected Derek to ever say anything like that. A broad smile broke on his face, "I plan on it." Then he turned serious, "It means a lot to have you say that Derek."_

"_I know," he grinned back, "That's why I said it." They both laughed, "Seriously Mark, I want her to be happy and I know you will do everything in your power to make it happen." He clapped him on the shoulder and said with a nod. "She really is in love with you. I'm guessing she hasn't told you yet but she is, I of all people should know."_

"_I know she is but I know I have to wait for her to be ready to tell me," he said with a nod then he narrowed his eyes at him. "Does this mean you have finally forgiven me?"_

_Derek smiled and nodded his head slowly, "Yeah it does."_

_A wide grin spread across his face and he pulled Derek into a big bear hug. "Thanks man, you don't know how much that means to me."_

He knew he was going to miss his best friend but at least he had a chance to let him know how he felt, he was the lucky one he had closure. He only wished Addie could say the same because he knew she felt guilty that she never had a chance to tell him how she felt. He had no idea how long it was going to take her to get past this. He just hoped he would be able to convince her that in spite of her not telling him he already knew.

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Addie sat in the rocking chair in the corner of her room; the house was quiet. Maggie and Aubrey both were staying with her it had taken a lot of convincing to get them to go to bed. She flipped the card over again. She had been doing this for a longtime now, she wasn't sure if she was ready to open it. She looked down on the card and furrowed her brow and studied the envelope. Her named was written on it in Mark's decisive writing and he had drawn a heart around her name. She sighed as she continued to look at it, then finally she opened it and slide out the card. She read through it once and then a second time.

_My Dear Addie,_

_I know you aren't ready to tell me you love_

_me yet, but I wanted to let you know how_

_much I love you and I will happily wait for_

_the day you are ready to tell me. Take your_

_time there is no need for you to rush to tell_

_me because I already know exactly how you_

_feel. I see it every time I look into your_

_eyes. You might not be ready to say it out_

_loud yet, but you tell me loud and clear every_

_time you look at me. I love you with all my_

_heart and don't worry because I already know_

_you love me with all your heart._

_Forever yours,_

_Mark_

Addie continued to stare down at the letter from Mark the tears streamed down her face. He was right she did love him, a sad smile formed on her lips she loved him and he knew.

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**Well that is all for now I hope you all enjoyed the update, please review and let me know what you think.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Recovery**

**Part XXV**

It had been five weeks since the accident and Mark's death. Addie's mom had finally gone home since the doctor had taken her off all her restrictions. Derek had spent the time recuperating at Addie's home as well. Meredith had complained about this arrangement telling him he should come to her house to recuperate, but he insisted it was better this way. Meredith still had to work and Madeline was able to see to everyone's needs. The big plus to this arrangement was that he could spend as much time with Maddie as he wanted. He told her she was more then welcome to spend as much time as she wanted with him at Addie's, but she insisted she felt awkward going to Addison's house.

Derek had finally gone back to work that morning and had opted to spend the evening with his daughter instead of with Meredith which had once again irritated her. She didn't understand he missed not seeing Maddie all day and now that the doctor released him to go back to work he had no reason to stay at Addie's. It was time he moved back to his trailer.

Even though Maddie was now sleeping he decided to stay for dinner. Addie wanted to finally discuss with him who they should have as Maddie's godparents. They were almost done with their meal when Addie finally asked, "So do you have any thoughts on who we should have be Maddie's godparents?"

Derek knew Meredith was feeling neglected and he wanted to do something to show her that she was important to him. So when Addie broached the subject of who they should have as Maddie's godparents one thought instantly popped into his clueless head. "I think Meredith should be Madeline's godmother," he said with a nod. Needless to say he was so dense he was taken by surprise by harsh Addie's reaction.

"No," Addie said irritably, "Meredith Grey is not going to be my daughter's godmother." She set her fork on her plate and pushed it away glaring at him.

"Why the hell not?" Derek snapped back with anger.

Addie's eyebrows rose as she looked at him. "You cannot be serious," she said with a frown.

"I am, she a part of my life I want her to be a part of Maddie's life," he complained. "Beside you were going to have Mark be her godfather," he retorted and narrowed his eyes at her. He watched the expression on her face change from anger to pain and he felt instant regret that he could be so thoughtless. She rose from the table and hurried out of the room.

"Addison," he said in a remorseful tone as he rose from the table and followed her upstairs, she slammed the door to her bedroom. He leaned his head against the door and quietly said, "I'm sorry Addie. I. . ." his apology was interrupted by Addie opening the door.

"I never planned on having Mark as Maddie's godfather. I wouldn't do that to you," she said in a low tone, he could hear the anger in her voice.

"You don't have to deny that you wanted him to be a part of Maddie's life Addison," he tilted his head and his tone softened. "I just want Meredith feel like she is included in my daughter's life."

"I'm not denying that I wanted him to be a part of her life Derek," she said with exasperation.

"You can deny all you want that you wouldn't have asked Mark, but we both know better. We both would have insisted on him being her godfather," he said adamantly. "So you see there no reason for you to be this way Addison. Meredith is a part of my life, you need to accept that," he said defensively.

"I have accepted it Derek," she looked at him giving him a small shrug. "And no, I was not going to ask Mark to be her godfather. He and I discussed it at great length and decided it was better if he wasn't her godfather," she was so furious with him. How could he just assume things he knew nothing about? Why the hell would he want Meredith Grey to be her daughter's godmother? If things work out for them she will be her stepmother and if they don't it would be, well awkward. "Beside why would he have needed to be her godfather when in all likelihood he was going to be her stepfather," she snapped back at him and slammed the door in his face.

Derek stood stunned staring at the door that was slammed in his face. Addison had never talked about marrying Mark before. He leaned his forehead on the door regretting this fight. He inhaled deeply then let out a slow breath, thinking about what she had just said. If Meredith and he were to get married then she would be Maddie's stepmother, but if things didn't work out then what?

God he thought to himself I am a complete idiot. He softly rapped on her door then opened it. She was standing by the window staring off in the distance with her arms wrapped around her waist. He crossed the room and stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder then whispered in her ear, "I'm sorry.'" He sighed then said full of remorse, "I'm an insensitive ass."

She let out a small chuckle and her voice cracked when she answered, "You will get no argument out of me."

"I'm sorry you are right. Meredith should not be Maddie's godmother," he hugged her tighter.

"Thank you," she whispered softly.

"And I'm sorry I shouldn't have brought up Mark," he said ashamed of himself, he was supposed to be helping her get over her loss not reminding her of it. She nodded in acceptance of his apology and he gave her a light kiss on the temple.

They stood there for quite sometime taking in the view with neither one saying a word. Derek sighed softly; once again he was struck by what an amazing view Addie's home had. A wistful smile appeared on his face as he watched the ferries glide across the lake.

He finally broke the silence and said quietly, "So godparents." He smiled, "What are our options?"

Addie thought for a moment then said, "Well there is your family, but how could you choose one sister without pissing off the others?" A small smile appeared on her face as she pictured them fighting over who would get the honors.

"And if we choose Benton and Maura my sisters would still be pissed off," he grinned at her.

"I'd love to ask Savvy and Weiss but. . ." she sighed.

"But our life is in Seattle now and you wanted someone who will be here and be an everyday part of her life," he said with understanding.

"So, someone in Seattle," he gave her another squeeze, "Who isn't Meredith."

She nodded then tentatively made her list, "Well I would consider Miranda, Preston, Izzie and Alex."

"Alex?" he said with mild surprise.

She said with a small laugh, "Believe it or not he has been a very good friend to me."

"Well I think maybe we should choose someone who likes us both," he grinned.

She turned in his arms encircling her arms around his neck and with a playful smirk on her face then she said with a laugh. "Oh damn," she looked up at him the amusement shining in her eyes. "Then we are back to where we started."

"Hey that is not funny," he said with feigned insult then rested his forehead on hers and gave her a small kiss on her nose. "Okay then we should choose people who I like," he grinned back at her.

"So it's settled then, I'll ask Miranda and Preston if they would like to be Maddie's godparents," she said with a smile on her face.

He smiled back at her and nodded. "Thank god that's settled my mother has been on my case since Maddie was born to get this figured out," he said with a laugh.

Addie smiled thinking about her former mother-in-law; she had been bugging her as well. She grinned at him mischievously, "Now all we need to do is agree on a date."

"Well I think we probably need at least a month to give everyone notice so they can make arrangements to be here," he said hesitantly.

She nodded at him and considered the situation for a moment. "Actually let's shoot for Easter. Your sisters' families should all be free and Benton and Maura should have already made arrangements to have that weekend off since they usually go somewhere with the kids," she explained.

"That sounds like a perfect plan," he said grinning at her. Their discussion was interrupted and they both turned their heads when they heard the beginning cries from their daughter coming from the monitor. Derek leaned down gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and said with a smile, "I'll get her."

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Derek quietly crawled into bed next to Meredith, she was sleeping and he didn't want to wake her since he knew she had an early start. But she rolled over and looked at the time, it was two o'clock. She frowned and turned to him. "Why so late?" she asked drowsily.

"Shhh," he whispered, "Go back to sleep."

She was more awake now and sat up in bed. "Seriously Derek why are you so late? Maddie was in bed hours ago," she said with a frown forming on her face.

"I told you Addie and I had to discuss godparents," he quietly explained. "Now go back to sleep."

"And it took you until two o'clock in the morning to figure it out?" she asked unbelieving, the annoyance was starting to show in her voice.

"No," he said with mild irritation. "After we finally came to an agreement Maddie woke up and then I fell a sleep reading to her."

She sighed and snuggled up closer to him. "Okay I'm sorry," she said sheepishly then leaned in and kissed him.

He yawned and turned to her then said softly, "Now go back to sleep we both have to be at the hospital early." He closed his eyes and almost immediately she could hear a light snore indicating he was already a sleep. She sighed, pulled the covers up around her and rolled over on her side then tried to fall back a sleep.

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Addie had called Preston the night before and asked him if he could join her for breakfast. She sat across the table from him, a smile played on her lips as she watched him holding her daughter. "She seems to like you," she said as she watched him smiling down at Maddie and she was smiling back up at him making soft cooing noises at him.

"The feeling is mutual," he smiled back at her. Then he asked, "Now tell me why you wanted to have breakfast with me other then to show off your beautiful daughter?" he looked at her with anticipation, he thought he knew what this was going to be about and steeled himself.

"Derek and I have finally come to a decision regarding godparents and," she bit her lower lip before continuing, "We were hoping you would agree to being her godfather." She breathed in and held her breath while she waited for him to answer.

He relaxed and a wide smile appeared on his face then he immediately said, "Addison I'd be honored. Are you both sure about this?"

She nodded breathing a sigh of relief, "Yes, we went around and around about our options and decided we really wanted friends who live in Seattle to be her godparents. So yes we are both sure," she nodded again.

"Thank you, I consider it a real honor," he cuddled Maddie close to his chest and continued to smile ear to ear. She beamed a smile at the pair thinking they definitely made a good choice. But this wasn't the only issue she had to discuss with him. She had been worried about him lately and his refusal to perform surgery.

"Now that I have that taken care of, I have another question for you," she narrowed her eyes at him.

The smile dropped from his face and he sobered, this is what he initially thought this breakfast was going to be able. "I know what you are going. . ."

"Do you?" she sighed and shook her head at him. "Preston," she said in a tone, "Why the hell have you not gone back in the OR?"

"I'm not one hundred percent yet and I do not plan on going back in until I am," he defended himself.

"Bullshit," she snapped at him.

"Hey watch your language. No swearing in front of my goddaughter," he said playfully trying to distract her.

She shook her head and smiled at him then reached across the table and took his hand, "Your hand is fine you have full function back. It's time to get back to doing what you do best."

"What do you know about how I'm doing, you haven't been at the hospital over four months," he said with irritation.

"I might not be working, but I know what's going on," she smirked at him.

"Derek needs to learn to keep his mouth shut," he said mildly annoyed.

She grinned at him, "Derek is not my informant." Then a serious look crossed her face and she said with a small nod, "You need to get back in there, it's time." He let go of her hand and held it out flat, it was steady as a rock. She nodded, "See it's fine and I know I cannot be the only one telling to get your," he raised an eyebrow at her, she was going to say ass but glanced at her daughter and smiled, "To get back in the OR."

He chuckled at her pause to reform her language then became somber. "No you are not the only one, Cristina has been on my case for over a month now," he said gently.

"Okay then what's stopping you?" she sighed and looked at him questioningly.

"What if I'm not the best anymore?" he said quietly.

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Derek and Addie were exiting the pediatrician's office as Miranda approached them with a large smile on her face. She held out her arms and said smiling, "Let me have my goddaughter."

Derek whispered to Addie, "I thought you didn't ask her yet and that's why you were having lunch."

She laughed at him, "I guess asking is just going to be a formality now." Derek gave up his daughter to the smaller woman who took her immediately and began to tell her all about her William and how they were going to be the best of friends.

Derek put his arm around Addie's waist as they watched with amusement the exchange between their daughter and her soon to be godmother then Addie said with a laugh, "I guess I don't need to bribe you with lunch in order to get you to agree to be her godmother."

Maddie was snuggled into the crook of her arm and she beamed a smile at the little girl's parents. "You better believe I'm going to be her godmother, like you had any other choice," she said in that tone Miranda tended to have. "And yes, you still need to take me out to lunch," she said with a curt nod. They all burst out into laughter.

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**That's all for now I how you all enjoy the update. Please review and let me know what you think.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Recovery **

**Part XXVI**

Maddie was sound asleep in her carrier and the women relaxed while they enjoyed their lunch and conversation. Addie reached for her iced tea and took a sip then looked seriously at Miranda and asked, "So how much longer do you think Preston will avoid the OR?"

Miranda set her drink down then leaned back in her seat and frowned, "I'm not sure everyone has tried to get him in the OR but have failed miserably."

Addie pursed her lips and sighed, "Well something has to be done he can't continue on like this." Miranda nodded in agreement.

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Izzie approached Addie and Miranda as the entered Seattle Grace and smiled as she called her name, "Addison," she waited for her to acknowledge her presence and when she had her attention she continued, "I know you are still on maternity leave, but Dr. Williams would like you to come up to the NICU for a consult."

She sighed and shook her head, "Is it really that serious of a case?"

Izzie shrugged shyly she really didn't think it was something so urgent, but Dr. Williams said Dr. Webber insisted. "I only know that I was told you had to take a look at the Simon boy."

She shook her head and sighed, "Fine what's the initial prognosis?"

Izzie bit her lower lip then carefully said, "He has an atrial septal defect."

Addie raised an eyebrow certainly Dr. Williams and the cardiothoracic team could easily handle this, "Who requested that I be consulted?"

She pursed her lips and quickly said, "It came straight from the chief."

Addie rose her eyebrows at the blonde. "The request for a consult came straight from Dr. Webber?"

Miranda gave Addie a sidelong glance and a knowing smile, "I can keep an eye on Maddie while you go do your consult."

"Are you sure it won't be any trouble?" she asked with concern.

"No trouble at all," she smiled down at the sleeping baby. "Besides if I get busy I'll just make the chief baby sit." Addie shook her head at her friend and they both laughed. "Actually if something comes up I will just take her down to the hospital daycare," she said with a nod.

"Thank you Miranda I shouldn't be long," she bent down gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead and then followed Izzie to the elevator.

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Addie lightly knocked on Preston's office door then entered. He turned in his chair and gave her a wide smile as she entered. "And to what do I owe this pleasure?"

She knew it was going to be a difficult task to convince him to go in the OR with her but she had to give it a try. She smiled confidently at him then began, "I have a newborn with an atrial septal defect."

"I'm not doing surgery. I've already told you I'm not one hundred percent yet and am not ready to go in the OR."

"I'm not asking you do to the surgery," she raised an eyebrow keeping the confidence smile on her face.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Oh?"

"No, I will do the surgery I just need a cardio in the OR with me and I want you to assist," she watched him carefully as he weighed what she had said. She was getting him in the OR without demanding that he do the surgery.

He leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers in front of him. "You want me to assist?" he asked with surprise. He nodded then he asked with a shrug, "Why me?"

She flashed him a big smiled, "Because I think you need a trip to the OR without the pressure of having to perform an operation and I am fully capable of performing this operation on my own, but I still need a cardio in the room." She continued to smile at him and said assertively, "It's a win, win situation you get to take a first step into the OR without the pressure of performing an operation and I'll even let you close," she grinned back at him.

He looked up at the redhead and pretended to be insulted. "I'm a world class cardiothoracic surgeon I don't close," he said with arrogance.

She gave him a smirk and stated decisively, "You are a world class cardiothoracic surgeon who is refusing to perform surgery you will assist me and close for me."

He shook his head at her and a deep laugh passed his lips, "Fine I will assist you and I will close," then in a more serious tone, "But nothing more."

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The observation gallery was full to capacity everyone in the hospital seemed to be aware that Dr. Montgomery had somehow managed to persuade Dr. Burke into the OR. Many had tried to get him in the OR in the last month but all had failed. The residents were off to one side and Derek sat close to Meredith. The Chief and Bailey sat across the gallery from the residents. They all were holding their breath as the surgical team stood ready over their patient.

Addison and Preston stood poised over the infant boy with Izzie Stevens standing to Addison's right. This was a simple procedure something he had preformed thousands of times before. He had agreed to assist nothing more. When Addie had broached the subject of this surgery to Preston she had told him she needed a cardio in the OR and he would only be assisting her. She knew that was the only way she would get him in the OR. But that was not how this surgery was going to play out. She stared directly into his eyes challenging him and with an unyielding voice demanded, "Make the cut Preston this is your show." Izzie's eyes widened and head snapped in Addison's direction when the words registered. What was she doing she had to wonder, then she looked to Burke and studied his reaction.

He flinched this is not what he agreed to; he was he only here to assist her. He could feel the beads of perspiration on his upper lip. He was relieved to be wearing a mask at this moment. His eyes narrowed and he saw the determination in her gaze. He could see she was not going to back down.

The gallery erupted in loud murmurs as everyone was staring at the two surgeons in a stand off. They voiced their opinions over what had just transpired. It ran the gambit from shock, to anger, to relief.

"Oh my god she did not just do that," George said in shock.

Alex leaned casually back in his seat with his hands resting on his stomach a grin appeared on his face and he chuckled, "Oh yes she did."

Miranda leaned toward the chief and whispered, "It's about damn time someone push that son of a bitch into getting back to work." The chief leaned back in his seat with his arms folded over his chest a look of satisfaction on his face and he nodded in agreement.

Meredith whispered angrily to Cristina, "What a bitch, I can't believe she is putting him in this position."

Derek leaned over and whispered sternly, "Your comment is inappropriate Meredith; she is only giving him the shove he needs. I'm glad someone finally had the balls to give him that push."

Cristina stared intently at Preston and said quietly, "Shut up Meredith." Meredith cringed slightly upset by being berated by both her boyfriend and her best friend.

Preston looked up to the gallery searching; he saw the room was filled to capacity. It seemed everyone in the hospital was here to witness this challenge. He continued to scan the room until his gaze fell upon Cristina their eyes locked a small smile played on her lips and she gave her head an ever so slight nod.

A look of determination appeared in his eyes then his gaze returned to Addison and he angrily stared her down then said in a clipped tone holding out his hand and demanded, "Scalpel." The nurse snapped the instrument into his hand with such precision it made a crisp slap that reverberated through the OR as it hit his gloved palm. Izzie blew out a sigh of relief and grinned between Dr. Burke and Dr. Montgomery.

The energy in the gallery rose as people voiced their surprise that he took the challenge. Cristina beamed with pride as she watched Preston finally take the step to regain his surgical career.

His hand was steady as he moved the scalpel to the patient's chest. He paused a beat, then using a steady firm pressure he made the first incision. A feeling of euphoria overcame him; it had been almost ten months since he had cut into a living human. He knew he missed the rush, but his fears had kept him out of the OR and in that instant what he loved about being a surgeon came back to him and the fear that he wouldn't do his best had quickly evaporated. A smile played on his lips as he continued to operate; this is what he was born to do.

He made quick work of the operation and when he finally repaired the heart of his young patient the only thing left to do was close. He looked defiantly up at the smug looking Addison and a flash of amusement appeared in his eyes and in an arrogant tone told her, "My work is done you close." He could see the delight in her eyes she had won. She gave him a slight nod and went to work. He tried his hardest to keep the look of the arrogant surgeon who knew he was the best on his face as she closed on their patient. When she had finished closing he said in an almost inaudible whisper, "Thank you." He turned left the room.

The nurses' wheeled their patient back to the NICU and Izzie turned to Addie grinning and said, "Nicely done." Addie had a satisfied smirk on her face and gave her a small nod and headed out of the OR.

There was a collective cheer from the gallery when the operation had concluded. Dr. Burke had finally preformed a surgery and it was obvious to all who observed the man was back. Seattle Grace once again had their top cardiothoracic surgeon.

Dr. Richard Webber smiled down at the now empty OR his smile grew as he thought about what had just transpired. He set a plan into motion and it had followed the exact path he had hoped for. He had his top cardiothoracic surgeon back, he was now a very happy man.

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**That's all for now I how you all enjoy the update. Please review and let me know what you think.**


	27. Chapter 27

**I know its been a really long time since I've updated this story, so here's a short update.**

**Recovery **

**Part XXVII**

It was an unseasonably warm spring day. Preston and Cristina were having lunch on the patio. Cristina looked up when she noticed Meredith entering the patio with Derek following close behind. She waved her over, but Derek led her to a table across the patio.

Cristina sighed in disappointment, she worried about her best friend. In the last three months since Derek had come back to Seattle, it seemed like Meredith had less and less time for her friends. They would ask her to have lunch with them and she would always turn them down. They would ask her to go out to Joe's after work and again she would turn them down. Meredith wanted to spend her time alone with Derek; she said they had needed to make up for lost time. This wouldn't bother Cristina if Meredith had seemed happy, but she seemed miserable.

Meredith sat down disappointed, "I don't see why we couldn't eat lunch with Cristina and Preston."

"I thought you wanted to spend time alone with me?" Derek asked giving her a lopsided grin.

"I wanted to spend time alone with you last night, but once again you worked late," she said with irritation.

Addison and Miranda entered the patio with their lunch trays, once they saw Preston and Cristina and headed for their table. Derek watched Addison intently and frowned, she didn't even look his way.

"Fine," he said gruffly. "We can eat our lunch with Preston and Cristina."

Meredith gave him a hug and picked up her tray. She froze when she saw that Addison had joined Cristina's table. She knew that's why Derek wanted to join them. He wanted to have lunch with his ex-wife. Meredith dropped her tray on the table and fell heavily back in her seat folding her arms across her chest.

"I've changed my mind, I want to stay here."

Derek looked at her in frustration, "Fine we will stay here."

Meredith was miserable, how could she have been so wrong about Derek. She thought they had some special connection, but Meredith was becoming painfully aware she was wrong. The final straw was last week just before Maddie's baptism. Derek's family had come to town for the event. He had taken her out to dinner with his family so he could introduce her to them. It was one of the most awkward experiences of her life. His family made no secret of the fact that they wished Derek and Addison would get back together.

She could feel his sisters disapproving looks all evening. One of his sisters asked her how she had met Derek. When Meredith told them they met at the hospital Derek piped in saying that they met in a bar and had a drunken one nightstand. Meredith felt so embarrassed and looked at Derek pleading with him to shut up, but he just laughed and told them how she got him drunk and took advantage of him. He thought he was being cute and charming. Meredith was finally starting to realize he did not respect her. How could she be in love with someone who always made her feel so cheap?

His parents seemed to forget that Meredith had joined them because she was their son's new girlfriend. His mother and father asked Derek more then once when Addison and he were going to get remarried. They went on at great length about how many wonderful years Derek and Addison had before their troubles started. Both his parents felt it was the fact that they put their careers ahead of starting family was the root of their problems. They felt now that Derek and Addison had a child they owed it to Maddie to work on getting their relationship back. Derek politely tried to change the subject, but Meredith knew deep down that Derek thought his parents were right. The only reason Addison and Derek were not getting remarried was because that was the way Addison wanted it.

It didn't help matters when Addison and her family showed up at the same restaurant. Derek's family made it perfectly clear with their greetings that they still considered Addison a part of their family. She could hear the sisters say amongst themselves a number of times how stupid Derek was to let Addison get away.

Derek had shown he was obviously jealous of Preston, when they entered the restaurant and Preston was holding Maddie in one arm and had the other was around Addison's waist. It was ridiculous for Derek to be jealous of Preston. Everyone knew Cristina and he were still in a very solid relationship. Addison and Cristina had become good friends ever since Addison had gotten Preston to perform the surgery. There was nothing romantic about Addison and Preston's relationship, if anything they were more like siblings.

When Addison had left her table Derek followed her. She knew that Addison and Derek had an argument about her being here with Preston, because when Derek had come back fifteen minutes later he was in a surly mood and had a rather large red welt on the side of his face. She could only imagine what Derek had said to Addison to make her slap him.

Before Derek, Meredith had never been in love. She only now was realizing that she still had never been in love. The Derek she met almost twenty plus months ago was a fantasy. What they had wasn't real. Derek had said he loved her, but in reality he was running away and Meredith was his escape. Now their entire relationship depressed her. She pushed aside her friends for Derek only to have him ignore her. She needed to get a grip and end this before she was completely destroyed.

"Derek?"

"What?"

"What are we doing?"

"What do you mean what are we doing? We are having lunch."

"I mean, why are we together?"

He was taken aback by the question. "What do you mean why are we together?"

"Come on Derek, we both know you don't want to be with me anymore. And quite frankly, I don't want to be with you either. We are just both being too stubborn to admit we made a mistake."

He looked at her ready to protest.

"No Derek, don't try to say I'm wrong. We both know I'm not. I'm sorry Derek; a lot of this is my fault. If I really knew what it was like to really be in love with someone I would have let go the minute Addison showed up here and never looked back."

"But I thought we had something special. I really thought I was in love with you," Derek said with sincerity.

"Thought is the key word Derek. Now be honest with yourself. Can you look me in the eye and tell me that you are in love with me?"

Oh god not again, he thought. Why on earth do the women in his life do this to him? He remembered back to when Addison had asked him the same question. He knew then that he was not in love with Addison. He thought he was in love with Meredith. Something had changed in the last four months. Somewhere along the way he fell out of love with Meredith. Maybe she was right; maybe he was never really in love with her.

He had to ask himself who was he in love with? Meredith was right; he was not in love with her. He looked over at Addison, she was laughing with her friends. For the first time since she came to Seattle she genuinely looked happy. He knew the answer to that question now, but there was not a thing he could do about it.

He nodded at Meredith; he was over come with sadness. He never wanted to her hurt, but he realized now that is all he had ever done to her. "You're right I can't say it. What do we do now?"

Meredith gave him a sad smile, "We say goodbye and move on with our lives."

"I'm sorry Meredith; I never meant to hurt you. I hope you can forgive me. And I hope you find someone who really does know how to make you happy."

"I know you didn't mean to hurt me Derek. But I think I will need sometime to find myself." She smiled at Derek. "I finally realized something, I need to be the one who makes me happy, not look for someone else to make me happy." She took his hand in hers, "I hope you can finally figure out what you really want."

"That's the problem I know what I want, but it's too late."

Meredith looked over at the table Addison was sitting at. Izzie, Alex, George and Callie had joined the group. Addison was laughing; Meredith had never seen her looking so carefree and happy. She couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy; Addison was at home with Meredith's friends. She watched her friends and how easily Addison fit in with them. She had to laugh at how stupid she felt because Addison once again had what she wanted. Derek just might be right, he might have figured everything out too late.

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**I hope you enjoyed the update, let me know what you think.**


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